A cold wind blows through Canada’s Jewish communities

Since the results of the Canadian federal election were confirmed early Tuesday morning, my phone and message apps haven’t stopped buzzing. Many Canadian Jews are so concerned about their future that they are planning to leave – for good.

Canadians are much more like Europeans than their U.S. neighbours. We are, by and large, more conservative in lifestyle. We tend to go to university close to home and often return to raise our families near the childhood nest. We just don’t move around a lot.

Among the many conversations I’ve had since Monday was one with an old friend from high school in Toronto, who married a woman from Montreal and did the reverse migration (it’s much more common for Montrealers to move to Toronto for language and opportunity). He loved it there for decades. His children – now in their late 20s and early 30s – all speak French, which was not the norm for my generation. Compared to Toronto or Vancouver, Montreal is far more affordable and liveable. But yesterday, my friend said they were done. They’re pulling up stakes and moving everything – including a highly profitable business – to the U.S. Two of his three children are marrying Americans, and he’s urged them to secure citizenship asap. He’s not alone.

In my home community of Toronto – where around 225,000 Jews live – concern about the future is off the charts. On a recent visit ahead of the elections, nearly everyone I spoke to voiced grave concern about what would happen should Prime Minister Mark Carney prevail. Now that he has, some are inquiring about aliyah. Others are exploring options in the U.S. Few expect to remain in Canada long-term.

Hysteria? Or prescience?

Canada’s newly elected prime minister only recently replaced Justin Trudeau as Liberal leader and now holds a fresh mandate. A climate zealot, Carney will be familiar to many in the UK as the former Governor of the Bank of England (2013–19). During his tenure, he treated the role not as a neutral technocrat – as tradition would suggest – but as a political activist.

Since departing Threadneedle Street – some say pushed – Carney has chaired blue-chip boards and led Brookfield Asset Management, a global investment giant. He also served as an “economic adviser” to Trudeau and wrote a book titled Values.

And it’s in those pages that we get a glimpse of his vision for Canada.

To tame the climate beast – which he sees as the ultimate existential crisis – Carney argues we must submit to “rigid controls on personal freedom, industry and corporate funding”. This, he claims, is necessary because “Western society [is] morally rotten and… corrupted by capitalism”.

And all this sturm und drang brings us, circuitously, back to the Jews.

Canada is home to the fourth-largest Jewish community in the world, after Israel, the US, and France. The majority of Canada’s 375,000 Jews live in Greater Toronto, with a sizeable population in Montreal.

Despite claiming to be a Zionist, Trudeau’s policies and statements regarding Israel and Jewish life were not very supportive, to put it mildly. He was quick to denounce Israel for alleged war crimes. While the 7 October slaughter in Israel was still unfolding, mass street celebrations of Hamas’ “resistance” erupted across Canadian cities.

Law enforcement did nothing. As in many Western cities, the protests only grew in scale and violence. Trudeau piously lectured Canadians, calling them “peaceful protests” and invoking the constitutional rights to freedom of assembly and expression.

Except it was hogwash. These weren’t peaceful protests, nor were the participants exercising protected rights. They were textbook cases of incitement to hate and violence, clearly targeting an identifiable religious/ethnic group. These acts easily met the Criminal Code’s thresholds for prosecution.

Add to that a slew of civil statutes – municipal, provincial, and federal – that were blatantly and repeatedly violated. Trudeau looked the other way, effectively emboldening the mob.

And yet Trudeau also angered the pro-Hamas faction. They wanted a two-way arms embargo on Israel, recognition of a Palestinian state, increased financial aid to Gaza and the West Bank, and automatic entry into Canada for all Gazan applicants. Trudeau’s failure to accede to all their demands put him on their “sh*t list”.

So, that was Trudeau. What about Carney?

Silence is his strategy of choice.

He has yet to condemn the relentless antisemitic protests that call for Israel’s destruction on Canadian soil. Largely unnoticed, the day before the election, Carney received a full-throated endorsement from Mohammed Fakih. A Lebanese-born entrepreneur who built a successful food business in Canada, Fakih has long been a Liberal stalwart, but broke with Trudeau over his stance on Gaza. Trudeau wasn’t extreme enough.

Fakih’s support for Carney would likely have influenced many voters, and he does not bestow it lightly; suggesting that the two men have an understanding of sorts.

Mark Carney’s leadership means Canadian Jews are unlikely to be able to count on the police to enforce criminal, civil, or constitutional law in ways that protect their rights, freedoms, or safety.

A significant number of Liberal MPs endorsed the so-called “Palestine Platform” before the election – an agenda openly hostile to Israel. Now in power, many more are likely to follow suit.

Carney, characteristically, has been silent on this as well.

As I write this, three days after his victory, Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu has yet to issue even a perfunctory congratulation. That is extraordinary.

Carney had accused Israel of genocide during the campaign, for which Netanyahu publicly rebuked him. Carney attempted a limp walk-back the next day, claiming he hadn’t heard the “G-word” properly amid the noise of the rally. Not credible, if you examine the full exchange – which I covered here. Otherwise, Carney has said nothing.

That mutual silence between Prime Ministers may seem minor, but in diplomatic terms, it’s seismic.

In Canada, many Jews fear Carney more than Trudeau. He’s far more intelligent, professional and very ideologically driven. With the strong Liberal minority in Parliament, there is already talk of Carney recruiting several MPs from the weakened, socialist New Democratic Party to secure a functioning majority. Should that transpire, one of the NDP’s top agenda items is a policy approach that would make Ireland look soft on Israel.

Carney would likely have to sign on to their Palestine platform which promotes total diplomatic and economic isolation of Israel. And based on his comments to date, he would likely do so without any qualms.

What does it mean for the Jews? For Israel?

It’s bad. Very bad.