Jews and the Conservative Party of Canada

A week or so ago when John Ray was arguing that Jews vote against their EGI I made a few comments regarding Canadian Jews - starting here. Some prominent Canadian Jews - life-long Liberal Party supporters and fundraisers - have announced they’ll be switching to Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party due to the latter’s tough stand against Hamas and Hezbollah. Here are excerpts from a Toronto Star article with some comments.

David Gelberman has thought of himself as a Liberal his whole life, but that has changed, he declares, because of the Prime Minister. “Thank God for Stephen Harper,” says Gelberman, 57, his eyes fixed on the television news from Israel.

“It’s about time someone had some cojones. Most other politicians are wishy-washy.”

Actually Harper is wishy-washy when it comes to defending traditional values against feminists, homosexuals, ethnic minorities, and violent criminals but I doubt life-long Liberals like Gelberman care much about such matters.

There are enthusiastic nods from his customers, smoked meat sandwiches in hand, at Wolfie’s Deli, on Sheppard Ave., which Gelberman runs with his wife Gila and father-in-law Wolf Zimmerman. “I was always a Liberal,” says Gelberman, looking natty in a straw hat, black shirt and gold jewellery. “I was only a Liberal. Will this affect the way I vote? Absolutely. I will vote Tory from now on.”

More nods from the men at the table where he has joined in the conversation. Harper is not so scary, says a customer named Joseph (he declines to give his last name), who organizes trade shows. He too, has been a Liberal supporter. “But I’m going to change that.”

“Harper is not so scary” to Jews because he shows few signs of promoting the interests of traditional Anglo-Saxon Canadians.

Harper made his pro-Israel views known quickly, issuing a statement the day after Israel sent its forces into Lebanon. Meanwhile, the Liberals’ perspective remained unclear. Five days passed before interim Liberal leader Bill Graham said the government’s position was a “grave error,” one that threatened Canada’s reputation as a peace broker and mediator. Leadership candidates offered a range of opinions.

In the meantime, high-profile Jewish Liberals, including Onex Corp. President Gerry Schwartz, his wife, Indigo Books & Music CEO Heather Reisman, and film producer Robert Lantos, publicly expressed support for Harper’s stance and, in the case of the latter two, tore up their party membership cards, if not in fact, then in their minds.

At a July 26 rally in Toronto to support Israel, Lantos received a standing ovation when he thanked Harper for his government’s “principled support” and said he was tossing off his “lifelong federal Liberal hat.”

Still no sign of Jews caring about their EGI.

Historically, Canada’s Jewish voters have stood with the Liberal party, voting them in at a rate 20 per cent higher than the national average during the 1970s. That support has fallen in recent years to 8 to 10 per cent above the average.

Jewish liberalism is understated here as Jews have also been over-represented among supporters of the even more left wing NDP (New Democratic Party).

For years, left-of-centre parties were at the vanguard of promoting pluralism and religious and ethnic tolerance, says Conrad Winn, head of Compas research firm. But now, he says, “almost everyone accepts these pluralist ideas, and you see a reversal in centuries-old patterns of attitudes toward Jews.”

Polls show that instead of showing hostility toward Jews, churchgoers and Christians show the most support for the religious rights of Jews in Canada and also the strongest support for Israel, says Winn. “Right-wing voters are more favourable to Israel and Jews than left-wing liberals.

Which could make the Conservative party more appealing to mainstream Jewish voters “

So now that even the Conservative Party refuses to defend traditional Christian Anglo-Canada they are no longer beyond the pale. But what about all those Christians still in the Conservative Party?

Winn also notes that unlike U.S. President George W. Bush, Stephen Harper is not demonstrably religious, and that makes it easier for Liberals of all faiths to embrace him.

On Canadian Jews and their support for Israel:

What can’t be overstated is the visceral connection between Canadian Jews and Israel. “Israel is our Jewish homeland,” says Rabbi Sharon Sobel, executive director of the Canadian Council for Reform Judaism. “It’s where Jews can be Jewish ... we send money, our youth, our congregations.“Now, Jewish Canadians find their loyalty to Israel has led them to ways of thinking they would not have dreamed possible a decade ago. One of those is entertainment lawyer Michael Levine, who has represented Liberal leadership candidates Bob Rae and Michael Ignatieff, as well as the late Pierre Trudeau.

“I have always been a leftward-leaning liberal ... always believed in the peace process. I represent a kind of secularized, culturally Jewish, not deeply religious person who loves the fact that I live in a civic nationality, not an ethnic nationality, that my neighbours can be Palestinians and Haitians and Chinese and we have grown up together.

“But there is a part of me that cannot forget history — that Jews were massacred by Christian Europe because they did not have a homeland,” he continues. “I am profoundly supportive of a Jewish homeland.”

Levine asks: “How do you make peace with the one who is trying to destroy you? It leaves me more aggressively in favour of the policies of Israel than I have ever been in my life.”

“I hope what you hear is the enormous pain of a person who prefers negotiation and diplomacy and the peace process and who hates taking on an ethnic-nationalistic point of view.”

LMAO!

For some, the Conservatives’ position on the latest Middle East crisis is an incentive to examine other Tory policies. Rabbi Roy Tanenbaum finds he is revisiting his long-held allegiances toward parties that best reflected his interest in social justice. Traditionally that’s been either the Liberals or New Democrats.

“I lean to the left side of the political spectrum,” Tanenbaum says. “Today I’m reassessing whether that is the key issue and if it’s true that only the left is interested in social justice. There may be aspects of social justice the Conservatives are expressing better.”

Strange how the Conservatives suddenly become an option for those concerned about “social justice” all because they supported Israel bombing Lebanon.

Jews - like Arabs - only make up 1% of the Canadian electorate. But there seems to be more than Jewish votes motivating Stephen Harper’s support of Israel.

Meanwhile, the public expressions of support for Harper and/or defections by people like Schwartz, Reisman and Lantos are bound to have an impact on Jewish voters, says Winn. Schwartz has been one of the Liberals’ most powerful fundraisers, largely responsible for bringing in an unprecedented $12 million for Paul Martin’s leadership campaign in 2003.

Though Jewish voters are small in numbers — Canada’s Jewish population is about 380,000 — their loss, if it is that, will be felt in other ways, says Ed Morgan, University of Toronto law professor and president of the Canadian Jewish Congress. “There is intellectual leadership — academics, policy types, the cultural and intellectual influence ... “

There are, of course, left wing Jews who are not so pro-Israel. They tend to concentrate on promoting multiculturalism in Canada. However, they don’t appear to be all that influential within the Jewish community itself.

Promoting their EGI appears to be a priority of Canada’s Jewish community.

Posted by Matra on Monday, August 21, 2006 at 05:55 PM in Canadian Politics
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Comments:

Posted by Alex Zeka on August 22, 2006, 03:11 AM | #

Canadian Jews are making political decisions in the here and now because…of the Holocaust. It makes about as much sense for Englishmen to cower from the Spanish because of the Inquisition. Both are very much history now.

Posted by Calvin on August 22, 2006, 09:04 AM | #

http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110008763

The following quote is from the above article in Opinion Journal:

“Now, in the closing days of the Lieberman primary campaign, I have reluctantly concluded that I was wrong. The far right does not have a monopoly on bigotry and hatred and sanctimony”

The following is an example of the “bigoted and hateful” comments that have invoked the ire of OJ:

“Ned Lamont and his supporters need to [g]et real busy. Ned needs to beat Lieberman to a pulp in the debate and define what it means to be an AMerican who is NOT beholden to the Israeli Lobby” (by “rim,” posted on Huffington Post, July 6, 2006).

So, if fact, hatred and bigotry is defined as putting your own nations interests before those of Israel.

The Zionists have ridden the liberal horse to death in pursuit of their own selfish ends, now watch as they shamelessly take up the cause of nationalism with all the fervour that they once supported multiculturalism.

Posted by Matra on August 22, 2006, 02:04 PM | #

There have been numerous articles in the Canadian press about the Jewish community putting the same weight behind the Tories they’ve put behind the Liberal Party for decades. I don’t think they’ll do that as that would leave the Liberals (“the natural governing party”) listening mainly to its Arab and Muslim members. I’m guessing they are looking at the US where they have immense influence over both major parties. It wouldn’t make sense for them to put all their eggs in one basket.

The Zionists have ridden the liberal horse to death in pursuit of their own selfish ends, now watch as they shamelessly take up the cause of nationalism with all the fervour that they once supported multiculturalism.

In the US the neocons will continue to steer nationalist sentiment away from Mexicans towards the Muslim world. The tenacity with which they’ve done this so far has been impressive. It’s common for them to berate Western victimology and self-loathing whilst supporting greater diversity. They argue that anti-Western multiculturalism is the problem - not diversity itself. Trying to explain to them the connection between the two (as I’ve done online and in person) is like banging one’s head against the wall. It’s as if they have some kind of mental block. Perhaps Kevin Macdonald’s chapter in Separation and its Discontents on Jewish self-deception explains it.

Posted by Svyatoslav Igorevich on August 22, 2006, 04:51 PM | #

Canadian Jews are making political decisions in the here and now because…of the Holocaust. It makes about as much sense for Englishmen to cower from the Spanish because of the Inquisition. Both are very much history now.

Judaism began dying with jewish emancipation; THE HOLOCAUST has replaced it. THE HOLOCAUST is the jewish religion now, and the lodestone of jewish identity and group cohesion.

Posted by ben tillman on August 22, 2006, 07:19 PM | #

That’s what Neusner says.

Posted by Matra on August 23, 2006, 03:27 PM | #

Yesterday a leading Conservative, Jason Kenney, compared Hezbollah to the Nazi party. This appeared to be in response to a suggestion made by MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj, the Liberal party deputy foreign affairs critic, during a visit to Lebanon. Wrzesnewskyj said Canada should negotiate with Hezbollah in an effort to restore peace to Lebanon. His suggestion has caused a split in the out of office Liberal Party which is currently in the middle of a leadership race. The candidate Wrzesnewskyj supports for leader has distanced himself from the remark while other Liberal candidates are calling for Wrzesnewskyj’s resignation. Meanwhile a Liberal party youth leader in British Columbia has resigned after insulting Israel. Some pundits say this will all help pro-Israel Jewish candidate Bob Rae (also married to an Israeli). Others say Michael Ignatieff helped himself by criticising the Conservative government’s staunchly pro-Israel position. (So much for healthcare, the economy, and national unity being the big issues).

Canada was doing just fine before the states of Israel and Lebanon came into existence and will continue to do so if either or both disappear. Canada does little business with them and has no interests at stake. Only 2% of the Canadian population is Jewish or Arab. Yet this irrelevant far away squabble is creating divisions within Canada’s largest party and the stance taken by the Conservatives appears to have done more damage to them in the polls than any other issue since coming to power.

Posted by Inquiring Mind on August 24, 2006, 12:19 AM | #

Sorry for going offtopic , but do you have any ideas on what the ethnic composition of Canada is now, Matra?

Posted by rustymason on August 24, 2006, 08:57 AM | #

Canadian Jews are making political decisions in the here and now because…of the Holocaust. It makes about as much sense for Englishmen to cower from the Spanish because of the Inquisition. Both are very much history now.

It makes a lot of sense. Jews get 10,000 miles to the slice. Whites are so afraid of being beaten by the Holyhoax that they will make “hate-crime” laws against their own kind for anyone foolish enough to question the holy 6,000,000 number. Today, Whites are worked up over a swastika on a restaurant ...in India. Is not the absurdity of this apparent to you?

No, anyone with any common sense knows exactly what the Holyhoax is good for.

Posted by Matra on August 24, 2006, 02:23 PM | #

do you have any ideas on what the ethnic composition of Canada is now, Matra?

According to the 2001 census 4 million of Canada’s 30 million people identify themselves as “visible minorities”. This is being driven by mass immigration. In 1981 there were only 1 million out of about 26 million.

The largest single group is Chinese - just under 1.1 million. East Indians are next at just ove 700,000. There are also well over 100,000 other South Asians - Sri Lankan Tamils make up a big chunk of them.

Canada doesn’t have anywhere near as many blacks as the US - 662,000.

Wikipedia’s information on Canadian demographics is accurate - though I believe their figure for Arabs is only half what it is today.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Canada#Ethnic_groups

The article below on immigration to Canada is very good. Indeed I’m surprised it hasn’t been altered as it is politically incorrect by Canadian standards.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_Canada

Posted by Matra on October 13, 2006, 03:09 PM | #

Update:

The wife of former Liberal Party cabinet minister, Irwin Cotler (the Justice Minister responsible for Canada’s internet “anti-hate” laws), has quit the Liberal Party over leadership candidate Michael Ignatieff’s recent remark about Israel. Ignatieff, who is favourite to win the Liberal leadership race, said Israel committed war crimes in Lebanon. Ignatieff’s Toronto co-chair MP Susan Kadis also resigned from his campaign because this remark.

Yesterday PM Stephen Harper accused the Liberal candidates of being anti-Israel thus igniting a political firestorm, according the press. There are articles all over the Canadian press today accusing Harper of trying to drive a wedge between the Jewish community and the Liberals. This must be Harper’s plan because Ignatieff’s main opponent, Bob Rae (ethnically Jewish with Israeli-born wife), left his old party the NDP in part because he thought they were becoming anti-Israel. A couple of the other minor Liberal candidates are also pro-Israel. But all this press coverage may give the appearance that the Liberal Party is anti-Israel.

I still don’t see it doing much to benefit the Conservative Party - there are more Muslims than Jews in Canada and Quebec is relatively anti-Israel - and it will do even less to benefit Canada. The last thing we need is to see an already watered-down Conservative Party welcoming influential socially liberal Jews.

For more on Ignatieff, the man who might become the next PM of Canada, check this thread that Mark Richardson started last January.

Posted by Igor Alexander on May 18, 2007, 03:40 PM | #

This article ought to demonstrate to anyone who believes that Jews are essentially Westerners who just happen to have a different religion or culture—you know, the Jared Taylor types—that they are not. Jews are an alien, hostile minority within our midst, every bit as much as Muslims or Arabs, and probably more so, since they are so much more powerful and have so many of our people fooled.

The article also illustrates why nationalism has to be explicitly race-based; nationalism of the “civic” variety, which is entirely compatible with “pluralism” and “diversity” (which is why the old Jew embraces it, just not for Israel), is not going to stop the erosion of national sovereignty and the continued displacement of white founding populations by hordes of non-white immigrants.

Posted by Igor Alexander on May 18, 2007, 04:28 PM | #

My previous comment should have read: “...and are more of a threat, since they are so much more powerful and have so many of our people fooled.”

Posted by Matra on May 18, 2007, 08:03 PM | #

Here’s a slighly later article about Jews and Stephen Harper.

there are some caveats for Conservatives here.

First, many Canadian Jews who are grateful to the PM for his support of Israel still view his party with skepticism because of its roots in the western-based Reform movement, which attracted a number of anti-Semites in its early years.

...To consolidate the goodwill Harper now has within the Jewish community, the Tories will have to convince many Canadian Jews that they share the same domestic values and agenda.

That will be tricky, because while mainstream Jews tend to be very supportive of Israel—on what might be called the “hard right” of that issue—on domestic matters, such as social policy, immigration, justice, anti-racism programs, etc., they tend to be far more liberal.

So it is not good enough that the CPC toe the line on Israel. The whole Jewish agenda must have a chance of succeeding before the Jews will throw considerable support behind them.

Posted by Matra on February 04, 2010, 03:49 PM | #

An 8 minute report from the CBC - Is Stephen Harper Canada’s most pro-Israel Prime Minister?

Posted by Fred Scrooby on February 04, 2010, 05:03 PM | #

“An 8 minute report from the CBC - Is Stephen Harper Canada’s most pro-Israel Prime Minister?” (—Matra)

It’s like anything else: when they’re funding the shooting match or a comparatively huge chunk of it (and I mean HUGE — the Jews don’t fool around when they want something), you dance to their tune. There’s no way around that, it’s a law of nature, like gravity. If instead it were the Armenians forking over huge chunks of funding, Harper (or, may insert Bush here, or Clinton, Blair, Brown, Cameron, or Sarko — same process for all of them) would be dancing to the Armenian tune; if it were the Overseas Chinese they’d all be doing the New Year’s Dragon Dance out in the street with firecrackers going off; if it were the Irish funding things they’d be dressed in green doing the Irish jig, if it were the Greeks funding things they’d be out there on the dance floor alongside Zorba the Greek and Taki twirling to Vangelis and pan-pipes music till they dropped, but it’s the Jews doing it so they’re all out there dancing the hora.

The Jewish nationalism gene is located right next to the Jewish money-making gene on the same chromosome, so the two are always inherited together in the same man. In goys the nationalism gene and the money-making gene are not only not on the same chromosome, they’re as far apart in the goy cell nucleus as it is biologically possible for two genes to get, so they’re never ever ever ever ever ever both found together in the same goy. Result: Jewish nationalists are all super rich, and super rich Jews are all nationalists, so JN gets funded to the hilt, while on the goy side, we get nationalists like Jared Taylor who are broke and super rich goys like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates who spend their billions funding race-replacement of whites. It’s simple biology — to understand it you have to know where the relevant genes are located respectively on the Jewish and goy chromosome.

Posted by paul on September 01, 2010, 01:20 PM | #

I don’t know who to vote for! On the one hand I care about Israel, On the other I do think multiculturalism is important too as well as Liberalism, so I am a conflicted soul. But maybe if Iggy wasn’t such a nut case I might actually vote for him. But with statements from above its Harper all the way!!!!

Posted by Fred Scrooby on September 01, 2010, 05:28 PM | #

Paul, where do Canada and white people (people of Euro race) enter into your thinking? [Enter into your thinking as something other than mere 1) prey and 2) parasite host, I mean.]

[......................................................................]

[That’s OK, take as much time as you need, Paul, I’ll wait, I know it’s a tough one ................................... ]

Posted by CS on September 01, 2010, 05:40 PM | #

Are you non-white Paul or just another white useful idiot?

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