Blame Canada! Trudeau’s Ouster, Zionism, and fighting anti-Jew hate with MP Anthony Housefather

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you've been quite critical of your own party even contemplating a move to being an independent I smelled the ACD smoke of what was left a month and a half later some say you haven't done enough the last thing that Jews in either Canada or the United States want is to have only one party as an option and at that point I was really [Music] upset though the explosion of anti-bigotry since October 7th can be observed all over the world World perhaps no country's descent into hate has been more Stark or startling than that of our once benign neighbor to the north Canada over the past year in change Canada has seen a whopping 670 per increase in anti-jew hate crimes accounting for 70% of all religiously motivated hate crimes despite Jews comprising just 1.4% of the country's population it is against this backdrop of synagogue firebombings day school shootings and Mass anti-israel demonstrations that my guest today has served as a loud and proud Jewish member of Canada's ruling Liberal Party in Parliament chair the Canada Israel interparliamentary group and was appointed special adviser on Jewish community relations and anti-Semitism by prime minister Justin Trudeau soon to be former prime minister Justin Trudeau more on that to come my guest is also a Jewish Day School grad mabia games medalist and is mostly fluent in Hebrew English and and French so please be and welcome to the friendliest politician I know Anthony housefather thanks so much for having me Jonah it's great to be here I want to mention how we first got connected which is pretty funny which is you you reached out to me over the Internet after seeing me on an episode of Jeopardy exactly I thought you did so well on that show and uh yeah you just got screwed by a daily double I know it was it's like one of the most painful memories of my life is losing that Tech I was like right there I was leading after first round just got weird categories I got the Final Jeopardy just didn't have enough left in the bank yeah I mean I think that's one of the things right where you're multi-talented you've got the acting you got the singing and now the activism and you had the Jeopardy what more could you want thank you just keep talking um no it's my turn to ask you because I want to hear all about what you're up to so uh as I mentioned prime minister Justin Trudeau just announced his intention to resign something you were publicly advocating for what's the temperature like right now in Canada I mean what's the mood what's going on what are the discussions well I think that Justin Trudeau had he stayed as prime minister would have been the ballot issue and he would have had as you and the Americans would have say a lot of effect on down ballot races because people just would have said I want a change and I don't want him as prime minister anymore his negatives were in the minus 40 to the minus 50 range yikes yeah I mean it's something like Biden right when Biden's decided to step down and allow Harris to run his favorability was still in the low 40s right so this this this is a sea change it gives a lot of motivation to liberals it gives a lot of encouragement to liberals that we now have a chance to have a new voice um leading the party into the next election and from a Jewish perspective I think all of the leading candidates would be a really positive change it's interesting that what you guys are experiencing and and more things we're going to talk about are so parallel to what the US has been experiencing we are incredibly close to the United States and our politics reflect one another and I think on the Jewish issue right the Jewish Community is I think that have been the most disappointed in the last 15 months have been those of Canada the United States and Australia because in our countries we never expected anti-Semitism to rise to these levels Cho in the rest of the world they've experienced anti-Semitism at a much higher level than we ever have in South America and Europe and so they're less confused less angry than in our countries where you know I went most of my life without seeing anti-Semitism until I I you know I was an elected official in the last few years and I think all of us have been shocked totally to what do you attribute Trudeau's deep unpopularity where everybody is sort of on the same page about he's got to go I think there's multiple things I mean I think number one people have turned against governments since covid right so all incumbent governments are in trouble our leaders are in trouble in all countries Western countries I think the second thing is that social media has also given leaders a shorter shelf life if you're the top person and you're in the news every day constantly bombarded into people's faces people get tired of you also in the last couple of years not in the first number of years of his mandate where I think he did a very good job I think in the last couple of years the government has drifted too far to the left and I'm very much a Centrist and I think even most liberals recognize that and want the party to Veer back back to the center and that includes on on issues of Israel and the Jewish Community right we were the government that voted along with the United States the most in favor of Israel at the UN between our election 2015 and October 2023 our votes were 90% % against the anti-israel resolutions whereas other than Canada in the US almost every other country was like less than 10% and on Jewish issues he had a really good record we appointed our first special Envoy in anti-Semitism we adopted the IRA definition of anti-semitism anti-Semitism was one of the four pillars of our anti-racism strategy and I can go on and on but then in the last year both the turn against Israel which I've spoken out against many times and voted against my party on and the lack of national clear messaging response to anti-Semitism I think has led the Jewish Community to really want to change and as opposed to saying that the change should be go to the other party I would like to change to say stay with this party but we're offering a new vision and a new leader speaking of the other Party conservatives are polling quite High nationally it's again very similar to the American Experience where you have people who have been long traditional liberals Jews who are afraid of what they're seeing on the far left of their party and are starting to drift right word I try to remind people that while there is this group of people who are anti-israel um you know uh on on the left of the party they do not make up the moderate mainstream of the party and the last thing that Jews in either canidate or the United States want is to have only one party as an option if our values are more toward the Democratic or liberal side we should have that option of the party in the same way that if you're more to the right you want the Republican or conservative option you don't want to say well party is just going to be anti-israel and if you remove the moderate voices in that party you're going to end up with a party that does reflect an anti-israel Tendencies so you need to reelect your house members from the Democrats and from the liberals who are positively supportive of Israel and reflect the moderate mainstream of the Jewish community and and that's what I tell everybody you don't want to say all Jews should vote for this party or that party because then you'll never have a choice again a few weeks ago had uh us Congressman Richie Torres on the show and said almost the exact same thing about not abandoning ship to the enemy don't concede your own party change the party to be what you want it to be exactly and I think Rickie has been a fantastic example of a non-jewish Ally yeah I'm like I have a guy in Canada named Marco mcino who has been like Richie Torres yeah and he's not Jewish and he's been a beacon of light for for the community but I think that now that Trudeau stepped down you're going to see many more liberals be much more clearly supportive of Israel and much more clearly recognizing that the government has not done a good job on anti-Semitism and as somewhat failed Canadian Jews Christa Freeland who used to be our secretary of state our foreign affairs minister was an incredibly pro-israel foreign affairs minister I know she's disappointed with the way we've handled anti-Semitism and as a cabinet minister she didn't have the freedom to speak out against it now that she's resigned from cabinet is running for the leadership I think you're going to hear that clearly from her Karina ghoul who is Jewish is running nice she is 37 years old wow she she would be our first Jewish prime minister our youngest prime minister um again another friend of mine I know very well that she believes that we need to do better on this issue um and then the third is Mark Carney who I've been really impressed with he is also very much more pro-israel and pro pro getting rid of the anti-Semitism that has tainted us so I'm optimistic that in these three leading candidates at least we've got a real change coming that's fantastic to hear and thank you on behalf of my listas for that awesome breakdown of the candidates what I always take Jonah is it's like you have a nextdoor neighbor and your nextdoor neighbor knows your wife's middle name knows what your kids want for Christmas or Hanukkah right um and you are looking over and you're trying to remember what their name is right like we know everything about America as much as we knew about our own country but most Americans unless you live in a border state like Vermont or Washington State know not very much about Canada totally and so I encourage everyone to come visit here you go I want to talk about Pierre P who's the leader of the conservative party has been very you know clearly strongly supportive of Israel I agree that he's been very pro Israel and I appreciate that um I don't agree with him on many other issues and I also don't agree with the tone that he uses which is dismissive and insulting of anybody who's not a conservative right like he is sort of AR Donald Trump in the way he uses nasty nicknames uh for his political opponents and one of the things that is the most important to me in politics is disagreeing without being disagreeable working across the aisle um because you get the best Solutions when they're framed by both parties coming together I love that that's that's what we're all about here on being Jewish after October 7th you you've been quite critical of your own party as we've discussed even contemplating a move to being an independent obviously you've not done that you as you've shared with us feel optimistic and hopeful about where the party is going what was that you know Moment Like though where you were at that crossroads and what kept you from Crossing it what happened was in March of this year there was a vote brought by our left-wing party the NDP and so for Americans it would be like the squad wasn't in the Democratic party they had their own party so in the Canadian Parliament you actually have five parties represented the NDP on the left the black kekw which is the Quebec separatist party and the greens have two seats also as well as the Liberals and conservatives that you could sort of think of as the Democrats and Republicans right so the NDP had brought a vote to the floor of the house there were many things such as um stopping arm sales to Israel recognizing Palestine as an as a state unilaterally imally right away it was unacceptable and I took very clearly the position I was Voting against it I spoke against it it's a fantastic speech by the way unbelievable we're going to put it in the show notes you should all watch the speech in its entire if you haven't seen it already Courtney weekly shout out to Courtney I was like you got to watch his speech and she was like oh I've seen this by the way your wife is gorgeous oh thank you I think and so sweet like so lovely like I I don't want to like put her down it's just look she's amazing thank you um I I really appreciated the chance to meet her um so I was really expecting that my colleagues would just vote against this resolution and then what happened at the very last minute was our secretary of state um negotiated an amendment with the NDP which made the resolution much more palatable but still disturbing in a few ways and then most of my colleagues voted for it with me and Marco mcino and Ben Carr being the only liberals that voted against it and at that point I was really upset then the there was a standing ovation given to the NDP sponsor of the motion who had been virulently anti-israel um and I was even more upset um so I really thought about it for two weeks I thought about do my values continue to align with the Liberal Party especially on this issue where I was very off what what they did yeah or should I think about other options like sitting as independent going to the conservatives doing something different and I thought about it and I realized that on 80% 85% of issues I align with the liberal party yeah so I wouldn't fit in another party and independents don't have real rules you don't get committee assignments like we're not like the US Senate right where Independence can caucus with a party as an independent you really don't have the ability to influence legislation to influence government policy in the same way so it wouldn't have made sense when the real answer to me was going back and fighting within my party to make things better and the way it was brought in it felt so you know performative that was even there like what was what's the goal even with that we need to have a shift in our in in in how our party looks at things and and how others you know it's not only just our party that's been trapped in this it's this constant effort to balance everything and to say you know if you mention Israel you have to mention Palestine if you mention anti-Semitism you have to mention islamophobia and and I I don't think that's right if you have an an some issue where a school a Jewish school is firebombed or a Jewish school has shots fired at it you can talk and denounce anti-jewish hatred without mentioning Muslims and the same is true as you if you have an attack at a mosque and or or or or something that is anti-muslim you can talk about anti-muslim and islamophobia without mentioning Jews and for too long I think we've been lumping the two together it would be the same as if we lumped anti-black racism and anti-gay racism right like it makes no sense in the monologue that I do before every episode actually for this one I talk a lot about the word Zionist and how I actually think we should retire it but in that speech you gave you useed the word Zionist so forceful and proudly in a really inspiring way why do you think that's so hard for people to do I mean I don't know that I've seen a politician in your country or mine say it so firmly and I think that there is a really bad Association that many people have with a word that should be positive and that's why I wanted so badly to make it clear to everyone that it was completely reconcilable and actually completely symmetrical to be Canadian Jewish and Zionist you spelled it out so clearly you you can be a proud Canadian and American right we we are Jews but we are Canadians and Americans we're not Israelis we're we're we're not Israeli citizens you know many of us have been in this country for many many many generations like going back at least to the 19th century and some back to the 17th century right there were Jews in new New Amsterdam in 1654 um there were Jews in Canada in 1760 when we were long before we became a country it doesn't mean we can't believe that Israel has a right to be a proud Jewish State and that the that is the word Zionism and and I'm I don't want it to have a bad connotation I don't disagree with you that Israel exists yeah this word is isn't necessarily necessary but because of the place that it now occupies I think we have to fight to reclaim it and we have to let all of the people know what it actually means it doesn't mean we agree with everything the Israeli government does it doesn't mean we agree with Netanyahu or would have voted for him if we were Israelis but this is about the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish and Democratic State and that's what I wanted to convey what was the response to that speech from the Jewish Community both nationally and within your own writing oh it was incredibly positive the Jewish Community really responded uh to that speech by saying you really spoke for me and I got wonderful comments not only from Canadians but from Americans uh from British people from Australians like the whole english- speaking World seemed to have really you know sort of Saw uh the Jewish world saw saw that speech my colleagues from around the world like you know got to see that and reach out and say wow you know now I'm going to be more inspired to say something like that in our house great that would be a gift so I'm glad to hear you got so much positive feedback they you do have some detractors in the Jewish Community as we all do you know haters going to hate no matter what you do um some say you haven't done enough your your words have been louder than your actions first first of all like how does that feel to hear knowing all that you have been doing and how do you respond to those detractors my house district um in American words or my rioting in Canadian words is about 25% Jewish but I have spent the bulk of my time right you know since October the 7th trying to help the Jewish community and deal with Jewish Community issues because everybody is so raw and so hurt and so a lot of the things that Canadian government gets blamed for and that I've been trying to work on on is local policing which is Municipal where the demonstrations are happening and local police are not controlling demonstrations not applying the law um and I've been pushing Mayors I've been pushing local elected officials local police to actually make sure that the criminal law is properly applied that the police know that the politicians will back them when they apply the law and it's not about just keeping the peace it's about actually applying the law and disincentivizing people from demonstrating outside of Jewish schools and Jewish synagogues and it's completely inappropriate yeah the other place that has been horrible is universities and colleges yeah and that in Canada is entirely provincial jurisdiction it is not federal but what I did is I was able to as a member of the Justice committee which is sort of like the Judiciary Committee in the US to hold hearings at the committee like they did at the US House yeah and I brought Jewish students to Parliament Hill we held press conferences we got national attention to it and then the committee report that we've delivered with all of our recommendations for the federal government the provincial governments the municipal governments the universities is out now it's a bipartisan report um and all of these are now to be acted on um so I feel that like over the last year and a half I got the the universities working with Deborah Lions who's our Deborah lipat to agree on a safe return to campus through universities Canada I was able to help get sadun in the rgc designated as terrorist organizations which has been a big call for the Canadian Jewish Community we have a forum on anti semitism that we're holding in Ottawa next month to bring provinces municipalities and the federal government together uh to talk about policing at the local level and how we can work together to make the police actually enforce the law not only did we adopt IR we became the first country to put out an IRA handbook explaining to provincial Municipal governments law enforcement universities um schools uh elementary high schools how to use Ira uh which we put out a couple of months ago and we got a security infrastructure program announced where we're spending $65 million to protect um synagogues schools uh Community buildings like all of these things have been announced over the last few months so to say that I've done nothing I've only talked it's not true it's not fair and I feel horrible when my own Community is the one that doesn't believe that I'm doing stuff when I am and and and they can just read my social media or newspaper reports and they'll see what I'm doing but there's just a hatred because I'm not a conservative from some people why would you turn against one of your own and another party who's doing their best it's so polarized that conservatives have stopped working with liberals on on Jewish issues and and I want that to come back because that was the way it was until pretty recently and and and it's become so partisan because of an approaching election that there's been that bipartisan Gap and I would like in both our countries to see that bipartisan support return and US understanding while we made disagree on other issues we all want the best for the Jewish community and we have to work together so much of what you've just said is resonating with me first of all you just touched on a topic of my another monologue that I just did about how the during our election season the Jewish Community was going at each other when we needed to be coming together and again it sounds like you're describing just so much of we of what we are experiencing here but you have one thing here that's something that we don't have in Canada which I've encouraged for a long time for us to have in the United States you have that apack endorsement for candidates in Canada we have no comparable Jewish organization that looks at house candidates on a bipartisan basis and it says these people are really good in our issues they're fighting for Israel they're speaking for Israel they're speaking for the Jewish community of anti-Semitism we should endorse them in their District no matter what party you would be intending to support this person is good and we need that in Canada too Canadians you're hearing it here we we need you guys Canadian Jews step up to the plate somebody make the Canadian a pack let's get this going so tell me a little bit about your role as chair of the Canada Israel interparliamentary group what does that entail we work together to try to bring Canada to Israel and Israel to Canada for example in Israel clean water and Indigenous reserves the desalination that Israel has done has been very helpful in terms of teaching a whole new group of people in Canada about what Israeli technology can do and then what we also of course do on our side is try to work to make sure both in the house in terms of legislation and with the administration in terms of government that are positions on Israel are as good as we can make them be right and the last thing that we of course do is when when for example our secretary of state um will go to travel to Israel um and as possible we'll go we'll we'll have a bipartisan group that will accompany them and meet with legislators to also have that tie in between the legislators um and the administration when's the last time you were able to do that we went the after October the 7th to solidarity after that and we had a bipartisan group of legislators that went um and we toured with the speaker of the knesset um the kibot seim the horrors that that happened on October the 7th we saw the Canadians right because it's not just Israeli citizens that were killed Canadians and Americans were killed I think it's 33 nationalities yeah yeah and and so we saw like Vivian silver who was a Winnipeg peace activist was burned to death in her safe room I I smelled the acrid smoke of of what was left a month and a half later um we saw the ground where people's Silhouettes where they had been murdered were chocked out on the ground there was a mayor of of one of the towns that we went to who was running for re-election and his posters were still up everywhere but he had been killed on October the 7th you know defending uh his town and it was just so important for me and for the others you know to come back and be able to tell people in Parliament what we saw yeah and and all of us did do that and and I think it was important amazing you've got all these different leadership roles on behalf of the Jews how much are you do you feel personally responsible for what does or doesn't happen I try not to take things personally and try not to you know either way whether it's a good thing or a bad thing play too much about myself into it but it's really painful when people blame you for things that you have no control over one of the things that Jewish politicians across North America have had to deal with over the last year is police protection death threats that they've never had before horrible threats to their staff to their offices my office was vandalized right baby killer was written everywhere it's like so painful I never thought as a politician I would ever have to deal with this because I never did as a counselor as a mayor or as an elected MP for the first eight years I was an MP it's all been in the last 12 months and and then like for people I thought were friends to feed hate you know from our own Community it makes it even worse wor are you able to approach them at all and be like hey we're we're in the same crew here what's going on I I tried I tried at the beginning and I was spectacularly unsuccessful and I've given up like there people I thought I had relationship with even if we were in different parties I I clearly didn't I thought we were friends and I realized afterwards we're not friends all right let's talk about something a little happier happy is good tell me about the Jewish makeup of Mount Royal which is your District or writing uh and and Montreal at large so I think it's actually like New York okay um right where you had the first far Jews that came in 1654 um you know and and you had aaric presence in New York you so you had that in Canada you had the first Jews that were allowed to live in Canada because when when Canada was New France the French didn't when Jews came they got sent back to France because they were had to be Catholic to settle there but as soon as the British Conquest happened in 1760 you ended up having Jews from the UK Jews from the United States that United Empire loyalist that moved there in 1776 when the us became independent um and you've had a Jewish community presidence in Montreal since 1760 the Spanish and Portuguese synagogue in my writing was founded in 1768 is it still functioning it is wow it's not in the same building but it's still function Community yeah yeah um and so unbelievable we started with fart Jews then we had German um and Austrian Jews that came in the 1848 revolutions and then you had the rest of us that came from the 188 80s to the 1920s from Eastern Europe and and joined the community so by 1910 um yish was the third most popular language in Montreal right and the Jews were like a third Solitude between the English and the French and then after the Holocaust we had a huge wave of immigrants post Holocaust that settled in Montreal um and then we had spartic Jews that came from Morocco aluria and Iraq and and other countries where they were driven out of their homes in in the late 40s 50s 60s 7s and then we had a Russian and Ukrainian Jewish immigration that has been more recent um like in the 1990s 2000s and of course we had an Israeli immigration as well where we have a number probably 15,000 people that have come from Israel are there any certain experiences or Traditions or foods that are like uniquely Montreal Jewish we would like to think so well smoked meat smoked meat is something between Pastrami and corn beef okay um and in my understanding it is pretty unique to Montreal but it is obviously Jews who brought it um you know it's a unique way of of preserving the meat um and there is a Del called schwarzes that is Iconic that was founded in 1928 that I highly encourage everybody coming to Montreal to go to but that doesn't mean that snow and Deli in my riding or others are not excellent um but smoke meat would be very unique the Montreal bagel which is a denser vers version of the New York Bagel they've made their way to La a little bit there's a couple Montreal bagel places here nothing is quite as good as Montreal because bagels are because of the water right like and so the local water has given the taste of this Bagel but but Montreal Bagels I would say are unique smoked meat Montreal bagel exactly beautiful you've said the only thing distinguishing us from other cities is the municipal Administration and the police handling these incidents poorly lack of law enforcement emboldens those who hate us and leaves us unsafe but no Jews don't need to change or leave what makes you confident in a secure Montreal future specifically for the Jewish Community there was a a report that the ADL put out on tracking anti-Semitism by country and Canada was the third least anti-semitic country only 8% of Canadians Harbor anti-semitic sentiment the US was 9% the UK was 9% and and there were only two countries below us of all the countries in the world the issue is you have a small loud group of haters who have been allowed to take over our streets to demonstrate outside Jewish community centers and Jewish buildings with the police standing by as bystanders instead of actually enforcing the law which exists the criminal law is written as a federal criminal code but it's up to local police and then the local police and the cities are the creatures of the provinces so the states that have to enforce it and they're not enforcing it and I've met with the Montreal mayor and I feel that that Administration has really failed Montreal cuws rampant anti-jew hate has historically signal the downfall of a society as it means that there are things that are already broken that are getting blamed on Jews what do you feel like is broken in Canada and how do you get on the road to fixing it I would never say a country is broken because saying a country is broken is is is giving up and exaggerating right most most politics is gray and and and and to say it's broken is Black or White and it's I didn't say Canada is broken I said what in Canada it wouldn't say anything is bro what I would say is we have a lot problems right we have inflation is a major problem cost of living is is an exceptionally bad problem around the Western World coming out of covid we ended up with rampant inflation can relate to that yeah and Canada was actually less at a height than the United States but but that that is a big problem stagnation of the economy and the lack of growth in productivity is a problem um the the anti-Semitism that we are experiencing is a major problem housing is a significant problem because we have had too high a number of immigrants that that we've allowed into the country um in the years since Co now the number was created because so many businesses were saying we lack the workforce that we need but but the number of people coming created pressure on the housing market that led to a lack of Housing and that led to another problem the increasing inflation we're experiencing a lot of you know anti-western sentiment you know looped in in that ven diagram of the anti-israel folks are you guys feeling that in Canada as well you look at our societies they're very very similar and if we're having problems in one country you're having them in both if Canada and the United States are are not twins we're like brother brother and brother brother sister and sister we're we're we're the we're we're so alike maybe we're fraternal twins exactly the issue of people screaming death to America you know and pro Iranian slogans um is the same in Canada as in the United States you get death to Canada or they saying death to America they say both okay they say both in Canada the US I guess they're not saying death to Canada because they don't considerer us but in Canada it's would be you know death to death to to Canada death to America death to Israel um like like all of that is happening at the same levels in both countries yeah what a shame it's it's it's tragic but but again I'm confident now that people have woken up to it more good right like I really I really believe that podcasts like yours but but I think the general population is now much more sensitive to it than they were a year ago or six months to ago I can see it with my caucus colleagues my liberal caucus colleagues in the house how much more sensitive they are now to how bad it is the anti-Semitism and the anti-western sentiment than they were six months ago if I really see a change and I see it amongst the population at large right because I do doors I knock on doors everywhere you know and Jewish doors it's it's been that way like non-jewish doors I now see are much more sensitive and aware of these issues that's fantastic it again reminds me of something I spoke about with Congressman Richie Torres which is that you know the big issue is not necessarily the extremes it's all the the majority who are in the middle being too afraid of the extremes to assert our will exactly and that's what's missing Jews are 1.4% of the Canadian population we're maybe 3% of the American population we're not going to win this battle by ourselves we need non-jewish allies and these non-jewish allies I think are much more ready now to come forward because they're seeing how bad it actually is well I hope that's true we always look at things with the half glass half full not half empty I love that I'm I'm the same way um okay so I want to just get a little personal to your family story in in Canada my family like everyone else has had so many opportunities I can't even imagine what like I I I once did a i i co-host Hanukkah on the hill which is um was an initiative that Michael Lev and I started in 2016 which had the Prime Minister the leader of the oppos of all parties that came and spoke at it it was a bipartisan event it was a CO the first year of Co we did it virtually um and we call it the national festival lights and I was able to talk about it was actually 120 years ago so from 1900 was living probably in a tenement a cold water flat like you would have had in the Upper East Side in or well wouldn't beer side low E Side in New York what would they have thought that 120 years later their great great grandson was standing there with the Prime Minister and was a member of parliament yeah they would never have believed it in a million years right but we've had them greatest opportunities in Canada and the United States than our people have had anywhere else ever yep and and we just need to make sure that continues yeah what roles did being Jewish play in your home growing up what really got me involved in the Jewish Community was actually mabia it was actually Sports it wasn't religion but Jewish Sports um like participating at Jewish athletic events starting when I was 12 um with Jews from around the world my first my first one was in Memphis Tennessee it was in North American Maia games but they had people that came from Australia and from Israel and and and I got to meet Jews from like every city in the United States like being in Israel and experiencing the maab games and and marching into Teddy Stadium with Jews from around the world and and and all of us in different sports and all of us from different countries and and we're all different because we're all like our countries and like everybody else in our countries but we're also have that Bond and and and it was just the most special experience I've ever had and and then being there again I I the last time I was there was in 2017 I was swimming and it was the first time I went as a member of Parliament and on the screen in Teddy Stadium they had Dom messag from Justin Trudeau like because what they do was they had Biden they had they had Trudeau they had leaders from around the world that wished you know their country's well in the games and the Prime Minister was on the screen saying and my friend Anthony is there to swim and if he doesn't win any medals he can't show back up in the house but like and I was like Wow and then and then all the Israeli media wanted to talk to me because it was so weird for them that A Member of Parliament was competing in the games but what I've learned I've developed relationships with Jewish people from around the world yeah from those games like if I go to almost any country like the English speaking country anyways uh or or Argentina even like I had people that I could stay with I have people that I can train with because of that Bond and that was what drew me to that feeling of the special link of the Jewish people everywhere in the world and why I wanted to make sure to fight from my community not only in Canada and Montreal but around the world all right we're going to finish off things here with a little lightning round poutine yeah nay nay me too I don't get it best spot for a Montreal bagel I have to say coaching Luke Bagel in my in my writing and C St Luke although Fairmont and St Vader are both good C Luke Bagel is what it's called C St Luke Bagel there's also dites which is also very good in my writing all right take notes favorite Jewish holiday my favorite Jewish holiday is Passover because of like everybody coming together for the seders so that's what it's all about for you just the bring the people together that's the best part 100% And and I I just love like sitting with family and friends like you know at a big Sedar and and and and not like you know just it's the socialization is amazing yeah favorite Mount Royal Jewish tradition if there is one in the community other than yelling at your mp uh I think the main thing about M royal Jewish Traditions is that Jewish culture and and and habits are shared by everyone not just Jews and we live in a place where you know people from all communities enjoy going to their Jewish neighbors for Jewish holidays that's fantastic yeah I mean I wish there was more of that going on everywhere yeah I I love Mount Royal for that I love that do you have a funny Jewish Day School Story from your time there the worst Jewish Day School Story was uh one time when uh the toilets overflowed um in my elementary school and flooded our classrooms oh God that was that was probably the worst story you guys studying Noah and the flood at that time well we certainly going into it afterwards right immersive learning I think the the best part of the Jewish Day School again was the experience of meeting so many friends that are still my friends today oh that's amazing my friend Barbie Solomon I met her in second grade and she's still one of my best friends love that I I have a similar crew Anthony thank you so much for being here this was so awesome I I learned so much I know our listeners did for sure and we can't appreciate you taking the time to be with here with us enough that was amazing J thank you for having [Music] me thank you again to Anthony for flying all the way from Canada to be with us today and for being an amazing voice for Jewish Canadians and diaspora Jews everywhere thank you all for tuning in and as always please spread the show any way you can we truly rely on your voice to help our audience grow I'll see you all back here next time e for another awesome episode of being Jewish with me Jonah plat he [Music]