Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister whose views on Israel and Jew-hatred have left Canadian Jewish leaders in the dark, won the Canadian election on Monday, although his Liberal Party failed to secure a majority of seats in Parliament. 

Pierre Poilievre, the opposition leader, lost his seat after a 20-year run, but the pro-Israel politician’s Conservative Party gained seats overall in the federal election. Analysts have suggested that Poilievre, who seemed poised to win by a long shot at times, lost ground due to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff war on Canada and talk of making the country the 51st U.S. state.

“The United States extends its congratulations to Prime Minister Mark Carney and his party on their win in Canada’s recent federal elections. The U.S.-Canada relationship remains one of the most extensive in the world,” Tammy Bruce, the U.S. State Department spokeswoman, stated at the department’s press briefing on Tuesday.

“We look forward to working with Prime Minister Carney’s government, particularly on key issues such as trade fairness, combating illegal immigration, halting the flow of fentanyl and other dangerous drugs and countering the Chinese Communist Party influence in our hemisphere,” she stated.

Rabbi Ilana Krygier Lapides, assistant rabbi of Beth Tzedec Congregation, a Conservative synagogue in Calgary, told JNS that Jews have a “general state of apprehension” about the results.

Carney “hasn’t turned his attention towards the problem of antisemitism and made a strong case for protecting Jews in this country,” the rabbi said. “I think there’s a sense of, well, Jews generally like to vote Liberal, because that’s where their values lie.”

“On the one hand, we’re relieved,” she said. “But on the other hand, we’re very scared.”

The results are a “push me, pull you” sort of thing, since “maybe Conservative values don’t line up directly with Jewish values, but we can’t deny how supportive the Conservative Party has been,” the rabbi told JNS.

“It’s a little bit challenging,” she said.

Calgary’s some 8,500 Jews have become increasingly involved since Oct. 7, and the rabbi hopes that major Jewish groups “reach out to the Liberal government and mend some bridges and create some relationships, so that our community feels supported.”

“That’s what we want and that’s what is good for everybody,” she told JNS. “We can’t ally with just one party.”

B’nai Brith Canada congratulated Carney and the Liberal Party on their victory. “We look forward to engaging with the new government to advance the safety, rights and well-being of all Canadians,” B’nai Brith Canada stated. The group called for immediate “robust enforcement of hate crime laws, enhanced protection for Jewish institutions and communities and serious educational initiatives to counter hatred and extremism.”

“B’nai Brith Canada stands ready to work with the new government to ensure that Jewish life in Canada can flourish in safety, dignity and peace,” it stated.

Noah Shack, the interim president of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, the advocacy arm of the Jewish Federations of Canada-UIA, stated that Canadian Jews “showed up in a big way” in the election as candidates, volunteers and voters and “made an outsized contribution to our democracy.”

CIJA congratulated Carney on his victory and Poilievre for “a hard-fought campaign,” Shack stated. “The challenges facing our community are immense. We have a clear expectation that the next Parliament will urgently advance serious and impactful solutions.”

“While Canadian Jews are politically diverse, there is broad consensus that Canada stands at a crossroads regarding the future of our community. Over the course of the campaign, tens of thousands of Jewish voters directly engaged with local candidates on core issues of concern—from antisemitism and public safety to Canada’s relationship with our ally, Israel,” the group stated. 

“In the months ahead, CIJA will work with both government and opposition, community members, partner organizations and friends from all backgrounds to double down on this democratic activism,” it added.

Mixed reactions

The Jewish parliamentarian Anthony Housefather, a Liberal of the Jewish-heavy Montreal riding (district) of Mount Royal, won a fourth term over Neil Oberman, who is also Jewish.

The Toronto riding of York Centre, which has a large Jewish population, shifted colors, from Ya’ara Saks, a Liberal, to Roman Baber, a Conservative. The last time the riding was Conservative was about a decade ago, but it had been Liberal for 50 years prior. (Saks drew ire from many local Jews for a photo, in which she posed in Ramallah with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.)

Aviva Klompas, a former speechwriter for the Israeli mission to the United Nations and native of Toronto, told JNS that she has seen terror supporters enjoy “free license” in Canada in recent years to march in the streets, glorify violence and threaten Jews “with impunity.”

“I’m deeply disappointed by the election results. This is personal for me,” she said. “The synagogue I grew up in, in Toronto, has been vandalized eight times. The first time was horrifying. But times two through eight? That reflects a political leadership that has chosen indifference.”

“They’ve turned their backs on Canadian Jews, and the entire country will pay the price,” she told JNS.

Igal Hecht, a Toronto filmmaker who directed the documentary Killing Roads (2024) about Oct. 7, told JNS that he is convinced nothing will change. “We’re going to see a Liberal government that has no concern for the Jewish community and turns a blind eye,” he said. (Hecht is encouraged by the pro-Israel Jewish Liberals, Rachel Bendayan and Anthony Housefather.)

If the Liberals carry on as they have for the last 19 months and don’t issue legislation countering violent, antisemitic protests, Canada will see “the exact same patterns” as Europe, Hecht told JNS, “a massively radicalized Muslim community that resorts to violence and intimidation to terrorize the Jewish community.”

“That’s something we have to reckon with as Jews. We are no longer a voting bloc that is counted by the Liberal Party,” he said. “That’s what it seems like.” 

Hecht figures that the Liberal government will “fund Shoah education, this or that building, but how does that help the everyday Jew who hides his kippah or Star of David?” he said. “How does that help any of the businesses with their windows smashed?”

Sidura Ludwig, a writer who lives in Thornhill, the riding of Deputy Conservative leader Melissa Lantsman, told JNS that the election results don’t surprise her.

“Being a Liberal-leaning person, if you had spoken to me back in January, I might have told you then that I might have voted Conservative,” she said.

Ludwig is pleased with Lantsman, who is Jewish, she told JNS. But she changed her mind about voting Conservative after Trump “really changed the narrative.”

“I’m very, very concerned about tariffs, the 51st state and Canadian identity,” she said. “Carney is the right leader, for right now.”

Ludwig isn’t sure if Carney will support Israel, but she hopes he will. “I’m not sure we’ve seen enough of him on that platform,” she said. “There are people in Parliament who hopefully will influence him in a way that’s going to help the Jewish community.”

“I think the jury is still out on Carney and how or if he’s going to handle it,” she said.

Avrum Rosensweig, a podcaster and former head of a charity, told JNS that he has positive feelings about Carney. He grew up with Conservative values, but as an adult, he feels differently and has always voted Liberal. 

“I was open to changing this year based on perhaps the Conservative outlook. That was what I initially felt, as it was more protective of the Jewish community,” he said. “As things went on, I actually didn’t see Pierre’s platform as being a strong one for the Jewish people in the Jewish community.”

Rosensweig didn’t think Liberals would be that different from Conservatives “on the ground,” and he thinks Carney is “an upstanding man, a decent human being, extraordinarily successful and bright.”

“I don’t think the sky is falling,” he said. “I think we’ll be okay.”

PHOTO: Use according to Section 27 A