Synagogues turned into battle grounds
Campaigns bare teeth in contest over Jewish vote in Mount Royal
The last thing Sarah Raskin wanted was for Beth Chabad Cote SaintLuc to become embroiled in the federal election. “We are so not controversial. We are so not political,” Raskin said of the synagogue and community centre she and her husband founded in 1986.
But on Aug. 24, as it held its annual $ 500- a- plate fundraising gala, Beth Chabad — in the heart of a riding the Conservatives hope to grab from the Liberals — was transformed into an electoral battlefield when Conservative Joe Oliver delivered the keynote address.
Raskin said she had naively expected Oliver, finance minister in the Tory government, to stick to the economy to appeal to the bankers and businesspeople in the crowd. “He was given a script that it should not be political, strictly financial,” she said. “When he got up, he was political. I couldn’t do anything about it.”
As Oliver praised the Conservatives’ defence of Israel, said Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau was no friend of the Jewish state and urged people to vote for Conservative candidate Robert Libman, Cote Saint- Luc Mayor and Liberal candidate Anthony Housefather sat in the audience steaming.
“Afterwards, I had a woman that came up and said to me, ‘ You know, I always thought you were great as mayor, but now I realize you’re an anti- Semite because you’re running for the Liberal party,’ ” Housefather said in an interview, choking up at the memory. “Of the 21 years I’ve been in politics, it was probably the worst night I’ve ever had.”
That a synagogue fundraiser could stir such acrimony, with charges and counter- charges still flying today, is an indication of just how heated the battle for Mount Royal has become. A Liberal bastion for 75 years, represented by Pierre Trudeau when he was prime minister, Mount Royal with its large Jewish population is seen by the Conservatives as their best chance of gaining a Montreal foothold in the Oct. 19 vote.
Liberal Irwin Cotler, who retired from politics this year, had held the riding since 1999, when he got 92 per cent of the vote in a byelection. But his margins of victory steadily declined, to the point where he won in 2011 with 41 per cent of the vote compared with 36 per cent for Conservative Saulie Zajdel.
The Conservatives are pinning their hopes largely on an appeal to Jewish voters, who make up about 37 per cent of the riding’s population and who tend to turn out in disproportionately high numbers.
“I think that most members of the Jewish community would certainly recognize that Stephen Harper has shown tremendous leadership on the international stage in supporting Israel, more so than any prime minister in Canadian history,” Libman said in an interview. To hammer the point home, the Tories have posted signs outside riding synagogues showing Harper visiting Jerusalem’s Western Wall in 2014 with the quote, “Through fire and water, Canada will stand with Israel.”
Libman said Trudeau’s “nuanced” position on international affairs “is decoded by many in this riding as an admission that he would tone down or water down Canada’s support of Israel.”
Housefather, who like Libman is Jewish, accuses the Conservatives of whipping up emotions over the Middle East. He said that when canvassing in Jewish neighbourhoods he is frequently asked about the Liberal position on Israel.
“I always give the same answer,” he said. “That we support Israel, that Israel shouldn’t be a wedge issue, that we will not change the votes at the UN on Israel, that we will continue to boycott antiSemitic conferences like Durban, that we’re completely opposed to BDS ( the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel.) I try to reassure them what Justin’s actual positions are. He’s as supportive of Israel as the Conservatives are.”
The Conservative attacks on Housefather and the Liberals range from global issues to very local ones. Libman’s team has accused Housefather of using his clout as mayor of Cote Saint- Luc, a Montreal suburb with a population of 32,000, to propel his federal campaign.
“Is there an intimidation factor?” asked Libman, a former mayor of Cote Saint- Luc who was previously leader of the anglo- rights Equality Party. “Can he hold his sway over some organizations or institutions or businesses within the riding … for support for his candidacy at the federal level? People, certainly we’ve heard, feel intimidated and pressured because of that.”
But those who were supposed to have been on the receiving end of the intimidation denied feeling pressured. Libman’s campaign said that Beth Chabad had been threatened to let Housefather speak alongside Oliver at the August fundraiser and that B’nai Brith House in Cote Saint- Luc had been warned expansion plans could be jeopardized if it allowed Libman’s campaign people to meet on site.
Raskin of Beth Chabad denied facing any pressure. “Anthony has been very careful,” she said. “He is not going to use any of his power, at least not on us.”
Gerry Weinstein, head of B’nai Brith House and former president of the Conservative riding association, said he inadvertently allowed the Conservatives to meet once at the facility, a home for seniors, but put a stop to it after Housefather complained.
Weinstein said he agreed the residence is not a place for politics and never felt any pressure from Housefather. “You know what? Anthony and I are great buddies. As a matter of fact, my big problem is we’ve got two superb candidates,” he said.
An email that went out to residents in August asking them to put up Housefather election signs raised eyebrows in the Libman camp because it was sent from a city hall address. Councillor Ruth Kovac, who like all of Cote SaintLuc council has endorsed Housefather, said she sent it from the only smartphone she has, the one issued by city hall. She acknowledged that she should have sent the message from her home computer but said the email is a non- issue.
“I’m not frickin’ Hillary Clinton. I don’t need two phones. When I get there, I’ll worry about two phones,” she said.
“In the meantime, we live in Cote Saint- Luc. It’s a nice little community, and nobody gives a damn, and the next day after the election, everybody shakes hands and gets on with their lives.”
With the campaign’s bitter tone, kissing and making up might not be so easy this time.