Anthony Housefather

Mount Royal federal election: Undecideds dominate, Tories ahead of Libs

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By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

The Suburban conducted a small poll of 150 people in the Hampstead, CSL, CDN and TMR areas of Mount Royal riding last week regarding the upcoming federal election that could be held as early as this year if the minority Liberal government loses a confidence vote. The riding has been a Liberal stronghold since 1940.

The results demonstrate an interesting split between the incumbent, Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, Conservative candidate Neil Oberman and those who are undecided, and some out of left field choices. Over the years, many have lamented that they cannot vote for Housefather and against Trudeau.

According to our straw poll results, Oberman had the support of 31.3 percent of respondents, Housefather had the support of 25.3 percent and 37.3 percent were undecided, with three percent for whoever the NDP candidate will be. Those who were undecided were split between Housefather and Oberman in CSL, Hampstead and TMR, and generally between Housefather and the NDP in Côte des Neiges.

Some comments from residents in TMR:

One undecided voter who is leaning towards Oberman said, “I voted for the Liberals for 30 years. Do I vote for the Liberal trainwreck or study what Oberman is doing? This is what many Townies are thinking.”

Said another resident: “Housefather is not my choice, but I’ll vote Liberal anyway.”

“I’ve always been Liberal, but I don’t like either candidate,” said another.

“I’ve given up on Trudeau, he’s had his time,” said an undecided voter. “Let’s see what he does [in terms of staying on as leader] and then I’ll decide.”

One TMR resident said he’ll vote for the Bloc Québécois.

“They have the best interest of the province at heart,” said the English-speaker.

The responses in Côte des Neiges were more split between the Liberals and NDP, with at least one respondent expressing a dislike for Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre.

Another said, “unfortunately I love Housefather, but I can’t stand Trudeau.”

A Housefather voter said, “I don’t know anything about Oberman.”

There were also some out of the ordinary responses.

One anglophone undecided voter said, “I’m not voting for Housefather, he’s anti-French. Anglophones should get out of their enclaves and learn the French culture.”

“I’m done with Trudeau,” said an undecided voter. “he acted badly during the pandemic, like a dictator. F–kin’ Trudeau.”

In Hampstead, many chose Oberman and others were undecided.

“I’m allergic to Trudeau,” said a voter. “Anthony is a good representative, but he’s in the wrong party.”

“If Trudeau wins, I’m leaving Canada!” said another.

One couple, originally from Vancouver, chose the Green Party.

Another couple chose the NDP.

“They’re the only ones talking about Gaza,” they said.

In Côte St. Luc, the Housefather-Oberman-undecided vote was split.

“There’s no doubt in my mind I’m voting for Oberman, I will not vote for Liberals again,” said CSL resident Steven White. “As much as I like Anthony as a human being, I do not like the leader he represents and I cannot in good conscience vote the Liberals in again.” n

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McGill will only tolerate peaceful and time limited protests:Saini

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By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

McGill will only tolerate peaceful protests on campus going forward, and not situations like the pro-Palestinian encampment that was on the university grounds from April 27 to July 10, McGill president Deep Saini said Aug. 28.

The encampment was cleared by a private company hired by McGill while the SPVM, as well as the SQ, surrounded the area around the campus.

Saini was interviewed at a virtual Zoom town hall by Mount Royal MP Anthony Housefather, who is also the Prime Minister’s Special Advisor on Jewish Community Relations and Antisemitism. Hundreds of people listened in.

Saini said McGill’s actions during the encampment were not perfect, “but did we handle it as well as we could have under the circumstances, I think more or less, yes. The rear view mirror is always very instructive….We are working without a playbook, we’re learning from every experience, and saying ‘how do we do the next thing better?’”

Housefather then asked if there will be enhanced security at McGill this semester, and what will the university do to ensure people feel safer and not have to hear antisemitic chants and have incidents like an effigy of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hanging from the Roddick gates or the occupation of a university building and terrorizing its occupants, as took place.

Saini replied that if there is a peaceful protest on campus “that is not also engaging in targeted hate against a particular community or individual, and it’s an expression of your political opinion, by all means, do that.

“But a protest has a time limit on it. You can’t say ‘I’m going to set up an encampment and that’s my form of protest,’ or ‘I’m going to take over a building.’ Time limited, specified subject in a specified place, you express your views and you move on and you have a debate.”

Housefather said, “and not carrying symbols of terrorist organizations, not chanting things that a terrorist organization would chant.”

Saini replied that “once you cross the line, then we have multiple levels of security now — I don’t want to go into the details of it — but what we have put in place is that depending on the nature of an offence, we will deploy security. We have our own security, we have access to additional help from outside and we have a better understanding with the Montreal police — of what the Montreal police can and cannot do.”

Saini said he feels “we have all the right steps in place that give us the best, at this moment, tools to deal with a disruption.”

Housefather also asked about alleged “abuse of podium” situations in which professor expresses his or her view of the Israel-Hamas war in a class where the subject is not relevant, or where students feel uncomfortable if they take a position contrary to that of the educator.

Saini replied that this past Aug, 22, a note was sent to all faculty and staff “laying out the rules of engagement going forward.

“They include a clear message to our faculty of what is permissible under academic freedom and freedom of speech, and what constitutes abuse of podium, particularly when you’re in a position of power. Nobody would be allowed to abuse their position or podium to make a statement projecting their own beliefs to the people.” n

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Mount Royal riding residents receive King Charles III Coronation medal

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By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

Twenty-one Mount Royal federal riding residents were honoured with the King Charles III Coronation Medal during an Aug. 29 ceremony hosted by Mount Royal MP Anthony Housefather and held at the Ashkelon Gardens behind Côte St. Luc city hall.

The honourees were recognized for outstanding achievement in public service and volunteerism. Mount Royal includes Côte St. Luc, Hampstead, Town of Mount Royal and part of Côte des Neiges-NDG.

More than 100 people were in attendance at the ceremony, including the recipients, Housefather, D’Arcy McGee MNA Elisabeth Prass, CSL Mayor Mitchell Brownstein and other elected officials, as well as numerous community notables. The medal is awarded to those who have “made a significant contribution to Canada or to a particular province, territory, region of, or community in, Canada, or attained an outstanding achievement abroad that brings credit to Canada.” Community members nominated recipients and 30,000 people are receiving or have received the medal.

The honourees included Town of Mount Royal councillor Antoine Tayar, who is involved in numerous community organizations; Côte St. Luc councillor, and longtime lawyer and activist Dida Berku; Nida Quirapas, president of the Filipino community organization FAMAS, a long-time educator and a helper of the needy and bereaved;; and Hampstead councillor and Dawson College president Michael Goldwax, who started Hampstead’s annual blood drive and has volunteered in the community since the 1990s.

Other honourees included financial security advisor and founder of the Montrealers Helping Montrealers group Leah Lipkowitz; Côte des Neiges-NDG councillor Stephanie Valenzuela; longtime dentists and community volunteers Andrew Toeman and Peter Safran; chartered accountant Ariel Sabbah, a leader in the Sephardic community; Natalie Olarte Pelausa, 97, creator of the Philippine Benevolent and Scholarship Society of Quebec; longtime community activist Maria Peluso; TMR entepreneur Tania Naim; Federation CJA president and CEO Yair Szlak and Eta Yudin, vice-president, Quebec of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, recognized for their tireless fight against antisemitism, particularly after the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel; Mount Royal Volunteer Centre president Caroline Emblem; former Hampstead councillor Lillian Vineberg, who is deeply involved in community organizations and in activism; Brian Blumer of the Knights of Pythias; Sharon Nelson, first vice-president of the Jamaica Association of Montreal; student activists Jamie Fabian, also an EMSB commisioner, and Nicole Nashen, who have also been countering anti-Israel protests; and former Côte St. Luc councillor and longtime St. Richard’s Church volunteer Joe Panunto.

Tayar, who was born in Lebanon, came to Canada in 2015 and became a citizen in 2019 and a TMR councillor in 2021, is very active in the community, including with the Saint Joseph of Mount Royal parish where he is involved as warden and extraordinary minister of communion; with the Breakfast Club of Canada, which provides students with free meals as one in three children in Canada do not eat regularly; mentorships for students; and being in leadership roles of several chambers of commerce across the country.

“I really believe in giving back,” he told The Suburban. “I’m committed to working with people in the community. You have to be an active part of where you live. I was always active, even before coming to Canada, in every community in which I lived, including Lebanon and Dubai. This is because of my education, personality and values.”

Regarding the honour bestowed upon him last week, “I’m very excited, thrilled and honoured. It sends a good message for everyone who comes to Canada that, if you are part of the community, you do the necessary things for people and you share their concerns and you help them — if your values are the same as that of the host country, the sky’s the limit.” n

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Week of antisemitic incidents includes posters and cemetery vandalism

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By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

A dozen posters with swastikas seen in Outremont saying the federal Conservatives and Liberals, and provincial CAQ, and Mount Royal MP Anthony Housefather, are aligned with Nazis because of their support of Israel, have been roundly condemned.

The posters related to Housefather, taped up at several corners in Outremont and the Mile End, says the MP declared “we helped build this country” and features an Israeli flag with a swastika instead of the Star of David. The poster also features a Nazi flag attributing the building of the Autobahn and “much more” to the Third Reich. Housefather is then equated to a neo-Nazi, and encourages him to “get out of Canada.”

The MP posted a response last week, saying on X “my family has been here since the 19th century and we have indeed helped build this country. I am not going anywhere. Sorry antisemites. You may not like what I have to say but I will keep saying it and I will keep being a proud Jew and a Zionist.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau posted, “Anthony, I’m angry that this happened to you. It’s antisemitic, and it’s disgusting. Jewish Canadians indeed helped build this country and will always have a home here. We stand with you, and the entire community, against this hate.”

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs stated on social media, “thank you Anthony Housefather for always wearing your Jewish and Canadian identities proudly. Antisemitism and hate directed towards public officials (or anyone) has no place in Canada.”

Deborah Lyons, Canada’s Special Envoy For Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism, wrote, “this sign is not only targeting Anthony Housefather, “but all Jewish Canadians, 90 percent of whom could be defined as Zionists. Our country has gained so much from the contributions of our Jewish community; it is past time for the rest of us to come together and say ‘no more.’ It is our duty to stand in front of them to protect them, behind them to support them, and beside them in true friendship.”

Late last week, Trudeau named Housefather his Special Advisor on Jewish Community Relations and Antisemitism. Housefather’s role will be to “advise the Prime Minister and ministers on the development and co-ordination of the Government of Canada’s work to combat antisemitism.”

On Canada Day, the stones on top of several gravestones at the Kehal Israel cemetery in DDO were rearranged in the shape of a swastika.

Hampstead Mayor Jeremy Levi commented that, “it is absolutely abhorrent and revolting to defile the dead with swastikas. This desecration at the Kehal Israel cemetery in Montreal is beyond contempt. Justin Trudeau, step aside and get out of the way so we can reclaim our country.”

Federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre retweeted Levi’s post and wrote, “we cannot close our eyes to the disgusting acts of antisemitism that are happening in our country every day. The Prime Minister must finally act to stop these displays of antisemitism. If he won’t, a common sense Conservative government will.”

CIJA posted, “should we therefore ask ourselves whether the vision of Valérie Plante is that of a metropolis where antisemitism can flourish freely, to the detriment of the tranquility and success of its citizens and its entrepreneurs? Is it that of a city where one can calmly and without consequence come and defile a Jewish grave with a filthy swastika?”

B’nai Brith Canada stated that, sadly “this is not an isolated incident, but part of a disturbing pattern of unchecked and unmitigated antisemitism plaguing the city. Such acts of hatred cannot be tolerated. The Jewish community in Montreal deserves safety and respect. Not enough is being done! Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante must do more than offer words of condemnation. We demand immediate and concrete action to combat antisemitism in the City of Montreal. The time for passive responses is over.”

The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre also reacted, posting “this incident is another reminder of what Canadian Jews are up against. What will it take for Plante and all leaders to take concrete action to confront this hatred that’s invading our communities?” n

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Housefather to remain with Liberals

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By Joel Goldenberg and Suburban Staff
The Suburban

The Liberals and NDP co sponsored a motion in the house of commons calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict and a halt in arms exports to Israel. The government has in fact halted arms sales to Israel for its defence. Liberal MPs Anthony Housefather, Ben Carr and Marco Mendicino were the only Liberals to vote against. The Conservatives unanimously opposed the motion. Housefather said he felt isolated and that the revised motion was too hurriedly passed. After this event Housefather began a period of self-reflection.

The Trudeau government, currently low in the polls, has also gone through a series of scandals in recent years, regarding ethics issues on the part of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the SNC Lavalin judicial interference affair, the WE charity scandal, the alienation of India after a disastrous visit, the revelation Trudeau wore blackface as a teen and as an adult, the $60 million dollar overspending on an APP (arrivescan) where people who did no work received cheques for an App that malfunctioned, and, most recently, revelations about the government’s lack of action regarding Chinese government interference in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.

Housefather said that the NDP-Liberal motion overwhelmingly passed in March “was a blow not only to me but to many within the Jewish community. It followed a wave of antisemitism across the world that over the last five months has left many Canadian Jews feeling bewildered and intimidated and fearful for their future in this country.” The MP added that he heard from thousands of constituents and that his feelings about the resolution “are widely shared,” including by “many Jewish Canadians who have previously voted Liberal, who have been particularly impacted by the events of the last five months. But notwithstanding his anger over the NDP-Liberal resolution he decided to stay in the Liberal party.

The community reacted:

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) reacted, posting, “Anthony has long been a determined voice for the Jewish community and his decision to stay in the Liberal caucus is one we hope will result in meaningful action on the part of the Government of Canada to address the toxic levels of hatred towards Jews and the Jewish state that have infected Canadian society.”

But Housefather’s decision has been a source of some criticism and debate in his riding. Hampstead Mayor Jeremy Levi, who has been publicly pushing for Housefather to cross the floor to the Conservatives, says that while he agrees with the goals for Canada in Housefather’s statement, “…it seems these aspirations better resonate with Conservative values rather than contemporary Liberal ideals. Anthony, an industrious MP, undoubtedly prioritizes his constituents. Nonetheless, I find the optimism surrounding Anthony’s task somewhat unrealistic in achieving success. I’d rather be represented by a party currently aligned with these values, instead of attempting to sway the views of the Liberals. The fact that the Liberal party previously ignored Anthony raises the question: what has prompted a change now?”

Mount Royal constituent Dan Vigderhous addressed Housefather on social media, posting, “I’ve always voted Liberal, and having you as the MP made it even easier. But you’ve been kicked around, insulted and disrespected by Trudeau. He is reactive instead of proactive. The thought of losing the strongest Liberal riding in the country is obviously what spurred him to placate you.”

Community activist Joannie Tansky commented that, “…as a Jew, nothing in the Liberal Party aligns with Anthony Housefather’s professed love of Israel. Nor does it align with Quebec Anglos who Anthony also professes to love, who were tossed under the bus by Justin.”

Former Mount Royal Conservative riding president Jeff Joseph had this to say: “Anthony ultimately acted in the best interests of himself. Ultimately, he will have to defend the interests of his party and NDP coalition partner to voters. Best of luck.”

CSL city councillor Lior Azerrad said, “All the community leaders are going to represent the interests of our community and the interests of Canada. Each of us must choose for ourselves where we stand and whom we stand next to.” n

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Judge extends injunction against anti-Israel protests

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By Beryl Wajsman, Editor
The Suburban

Superior Court Justice Chantal Masse extended the injunction against pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel protests near Jewish institutions until April 10. The injunction was originally granted by Justice Serge Gaudet. Attorney Neil Oberman, Spiegel Sohmer senior partner, had originally obtained a 10-day provisional injunction.

The proceedings before Justice Masse March 15 were attended by a dozen political and community leaders including Amb. Deborah Lyons,Canada’s Special Envoy on Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism, Mount Royal MP Anthony Housefather, D’Arcy McGee MNA Elizabeth Prass, Hampstead Mayor Jeremy Levi, City Councillor Sonny Moroz, Federation CJA CEO Yair Szlak and CIJA Quebec Vice-President Eta Yudin.

The extension maintains the ban on protests within 50 metres of the sidewalks in front of the Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue on St. Kevin Ave., the Federation CJA building on Côte Ste. Catherine Rd., the YM-YWHA building on Westbury Ave., Herzliah High School on Mountain Sights Ave. and United Talmud Torahs of Montreal on St. Kevin.

The injunction is against Montréal4Palestine, Palestinian Youth Movement Montreal, Alliance4Palestine.QC and Independent Jewish Voices, and Bara Iyad Abuhamed. The latter faces charges of assaulting a police officer during a trespassing protest by an anti-Israel mob inside Carrefour Laval.

On March 5 an anti-Israel mob of some 100 protested in front of the Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue of Montreal against the synagogue hosting a trade fair called The Great Israeli Real Estate Event. The day before, some 60 anti-Israel protesters barred the doors to Cummings House on Côte Ste. Catherine Rd. for four hours during an event with three Israeli speakers. Audience attendees were yelled at, spat on and shoved while the mob blocked the entrance, yelling antisemitic threats.

Federation CJA CEO Yair Szlak said he was pleased with the extension. “Justice was done once again,” he said. “We’re very happy that the court recognized the urgency and importance of protecting the Jewish community. While freedom of speech and protests are part of our democratic rights, doing so while seizing a Jewish building and preventing Jews from living a free Jewish life is not acceptable in this country.” n

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