Liberal Anthony Housefather elected to fourth term in Mount Royal riding
Canadian Politics
By
First there was the silence, then came the worried anguish, and in the end Anthony Housefather held on to his seat to be elected to a fourth term in the Mount Royal riding.
CBC declared he had won the race around 12:30 a.m., but Housefather still said he was 'cautiously optimistic.'
Polls closed at 9:30 p.m., and the nervous Liberal incumbent retreated to a back room where he spent most of the night either alone or with a small number of staffers in the office converted from a former Bétonel paint shop on Décarie Blvd. at the corner of Bourret Ave.
He emerged for about a minute during the night as volunteers watched the results come in on a television that was set up. He said a quick 'thank you' to his campaign staff and then returned to his back office.
Information coming from the poll observers was bad at first, with Côte-St-Luc and Hampstead polling stations voting overwhelmingly for the challenger, Conservative Neil Oberman.
If successful, it would have been the first time the riding went Blue in 90 years. In the time since, the riding was held by six MPs, including Pierre Trudeau, Sheila Finestone and Irwin Cotler.
With the second-largest plurality of Jewish voters in the country, the question of rising antisemitism was identified as one of the key issues by many voters. While some voters harboured resentment toward Housefather and the Liberal party for perceived inaction against rising antisemitism, others applauded the longtime MP for standing up for the community.
He was the lone MP to vote against Bill C-13, a major revamp of Canada's Official Languages Act in 2023. He was also among three Liberal MPs to vote against an NDP motion last year recognizing Palestinian statehood. After the vote, Housefather said he was reflecting on his future with the Liberal party, but he ultimately decided not to cross the floor to join the Conservatives.
Households were divided, including that of former MP Cotler, who supported his successor, while his wife, Ariela, publicly supported the Conservative.
In an interview granted during the campaign, Cotler said he, too, lost the Jewish vote in Côte-St-Luc and Hampstead, but ended up winning the riding twice with strong showings in Town of Mount Royal and Côte-des-Neiges. It appears that is how Housefather's votes also played out in this campaign.
Oberman, a local lawyer, was thrust into the spotlight in January 2024 when he represented a Concordia student who sent a letter to the university's administration to demand it take immediate steps against antisemitism and violence directed at Jewish students. In March 2024, he represented the Jewish community at large in its quest to have a court order an injunction against protesting outside schools and synagogues. He declared his candidacy for the Conservatives early — having campaigned since June 2024.
With just an hour before polls closed, a Hampstead resident took the time to cast the first ballot in his life, and he voted for change.
'I'm happy I did it,' said Ben, 18, who declined to give his last name, standing outside Hampstead School. 'The biggest issue that drew me was crime and how crime is going to be reduced. I like Poilievre's three-strikes policy that he's proposing.'
Ben added that he also voted with antisemitism in mind.
'I'm a Jewish person, and I see what's going on in Montreal,' he said. 'There hasn't been a change, and Poilievre has said he would advocate for that.'
Both Ben and his father, Michael, said they held Housefather in high esteem, but said they were angry with how the party as a whole handled several issues.
'My vote is against the Liberals because (Housefather) was very poorly treated by the Liberals,' Michael said. 'He's an excellent candidate, and he stood up for us, and he was treated like garbage. That's the reason my vote was anti-Liberal.'
At the campaign headquarters for Oberman, there was a party atmosphere in the last minutes of the voting process.
'I'm very proud of everyone who has worked with me,' Oberman said. 'I'm very honoured to have been in a race with people who stood up and did something. When you get out onto the street, knock on the doors and meet people, you realize how privileged we are in Canada to be able to do this.'
Volunteers reported that there were more than 30 teams walking on the streets to get out the vote and several dozen working the phones throughout the course of the day.
Speaking to The Gazette in the minutes after the victory, a visibly exhausted Housefather said he was frustrated by a dirty campaign waged by his Conservative opponent.
'It was the nastiest election campaign I ever faced,' Housefather said. 'It was a tough election to deal with that, and I will do my best to serve all people in my riding with the conviction they are used to from me.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Canada Standard
27 minutes ago
- Canada Standard
"Canadian politicians must distance themselves from extremists": Journalist Mocha Bezirgan alleges assault by Khalistanis at Vancouver rally
Vancouver [Canada], June 8 (ANI): An independant Canadian investigative journalist on Sunday alleged that he was physically assaulted and 'threatened' by a group of Khalistan supporters and had his phone snatched while reporting their rally in Vancouver. The journalist, Mocha Bezirgan, who posted his ordeal on social media platform X said that the Khalistani extremist movement in Canada has raised serious security concerns and strained ties between India and Canada. 'It just happened two hours ago and I'm still shaking,' Bezirgan told ANI in a phone interview. 'They acted like thugs - crowding in on me, grabbing my phone, trying to stop me recording.' The incident occurred while Bezirgan was in Vancouver city to cover a rally organised by Khalistan supporters. The Canadian journalist described the attack as 'thuggery' and said he was targeted for his editorial independence and past coverage of Khalistan-related protests. Earlier he took to X to post, 'I've been surrounded by a group of Khalistanis who grabbed my phone out of my hand and threatened me. Naturally I'm a bit shaken, but not deterred.' Bezirgan further said that the pro-Khalistan movement has led to acts of vandalism, intimidation, and violent rhetoric, despite not being widespread within the Sikh community. On being asked about Khalistani extremism, the Canadian investigative journalist said, 'This is a movement headed by Sikhs for Justice (SFJ). They are the ones organising it, and most of the time, it's the same people attending these protests, whether it be in Ontario, British Columbia, US, UK, New Zealand. They mobilise people to come from local Gurudwaras to create a little bit of crowd, but there are bigger political organizations like the World Sikh Organization which is based in Canada and they are they have a troubled history and they do the political cover in Canada. He highlighted that larger political organizations such as the World Sikh Organization, based in Canada, provide political cover for the movement. 'Their executives include current and former MPs and ministers, who have spread influence across Canadian institutions,' said the Canadian journalist. Bezirgan also expressed concern over the reluctance of Canadian politicians to condemn these extremist groups. 'Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, the NDP, and some Liberal MPs recently attended a Nagar Kirtan in Surrey, BC, which had significant Khalistani influence. They shared the stage with Santokh Singh Kelha, a convicted Sikh Canadian who conspired to bomb an airplane,' Bezirgan said. Bezirgan condemned the glorification of violence by these groups, who the journalist said speak openly about plans to ambush and kill India's current Prime Minister Narendra Modi. '...Because of the tensions between Canada and India, it's a very highly political subject, but I feel like we are disregarding what's happening underground. What these people are saying, how they are exercising their free speech while they are celebrating the assassins of Indira Gandhi and saying that they are going to ambush and kill India's Prime Minister, Modi's politics at the G7. I asked them Are you going to kill his politics the same way you killed Indira Gandhi's politics? Because they refer to the assassins as their forefathers. They say we are the descendants of the killers of Indira Gandhi, and they are glorifying these acts of violence...' 'It is disturbing that Canadian politicians continue to associate with such extremists, despite their violent history and inflammatory rhetoric,' Bezirgan said. He warned that lack of media coverage and public awareness in Canada allows such events and political participation to go unchecked. Bezirgan called for greater accountability and awareness to prevent normalization of extremism. 'As a citizen, I expect my representatives to distance themselves from extremists and those with violent pasts.' The investigative journalist emphasized that ignoring these issues would embolden extremist groups and escalate tensions between India and Canada. 'Today's thuggery I was subjected to was not the first time,' said the journalist who posted visuals on his social media platform X about an event from March 2024 when 'Khalistan supporters, armed with daggers, swords, and spears, gathered in Edmonton, Alberta to protest against India's high commissioner to Canada.' Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi confirmed on June 6 that he will represent India at the upcoming G-7 summit in Canada next week, after he was invited by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney during a telephone call. (ANI)
Montreal Gazette
2 hours ago
- Montreal Gazette
‘Complicit with a totalitarian regime': Canada's border rules are landing asylum seekers in ICE detention
News By Canadian authorities have returned more than 1,600 asylum seekers to the United States in 2025 without hearing their case for refugee protection, according to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). Many have landed in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. The removals are a product of the longstanding Safe Third Country Agreement, which requires anyone seeking refugee protection in Canada or the U.S. to claim asylum in the first of the two countries they reach. This means many asylum seekers who attempt to enter Canada through the U.S. are turned back at the border. The agreement is based on the assumption both the U.S. and Canada have sufficiently robust refugee protection systems. But with the U.S. asylum system now suspended and amid reports of refugee claimants facing deportation without so much as an interview, Canadian advocates say the U.S. is no longer safe for those fleeing persecution. Canadian authorities must stop the removals, they say, and allow refugee claimants to plead their cases on this side of the border. CBSA data shared with The Gazette show authorities sent a total of 1,624 asylum seekers back to the U.S. between Jan. 1 and June 2, 2025. Though the deportation data isn't broken down by location, just over 40 per cent of all asylum seekers in 2025 — deported or not — made their claims at the St-Bernard-de-Lacolle crossing, south of Montreal, CBSA data shows. Unless they have legal status in the U.S., all asylum seekers returned from Canada are transferred into ICE custody, a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol spokesperson confirmed in an emailed statement. Canadian authorities 'are complicit with an increasingly totalitarian regime,' said Wendy Ayotte, a member of Bridges Not Borders, a grassroots organization of people living near the now shuttered Roxham Road crossing. Ayotte called Canadian authorities 'cruel' for sending asylum seekers into the hands of the same immigration authorities who deported more than 100 Venezuelan men to a high-security El Salvador prison and reportedly removed U.S. citizens from their own country. Her organization maintains a web page with information for asylum seekers planning to cross into Canada, which Ayotte said sees a steady flow of web traffic. 'A lot of people are totally ignorant' of the Safe Third Country Agreement, Ayotte said, including of how to assert exemptions that allow certain groups of people to claim asylum when crossing from the U.S. One exemption is for those with family members in Canada. But some asylum seekers with legitimate connections are struggling to prove it, according to Jenn McIntyre, coordinator of the Canada-U.S. Border Rights Clinic, which provides legal assistance to migrants seeking protection in Canada. 'We do see people who approach the border and should be found eligible under the Safe Third Country Agreement because they have family members in Canada, but they don't necessarily have all of the information' needed to assert their eligibility, she said. 'They don't always have all the correct documentation on hand. 'And so we do see people turned back from the border even though they have families in Canada. The consequences of getting turned back are very severe.' Most people are being detained upon return to the U.S., she said, which could eventually see them deported to the very country they fled. 'When a person makes a claim for refugee protection at a port of entry, a CBSA border service officer will determine if, on a balance of probabilities, evidence shows that the refugee claimant is subject to the Safe Third Country Agreement,' CBSA spokesperson Rebecca Purdy said in an email. The onus to prove the right to seek protection is on the asylum seeker, Purdy said. But that isn't always easy for someone fleeing persecution, according to Ayotte. 'Imagine someone without any prior preparation or knowledge presenting themselves at the border and, all of a sudden, they're going through an interview. But they don't understand the purpose of the interview,' she said. Some of those seeking asylum at the border are Haitian, said Abdulla Daoud, executive director of the Refugee Centre in Montreal. In February, U.S. President Donald Trump removed deportation protections for Haitians facing continuing gang violence that has seen more than a million people in the country become homeless. Many Haitians have family in Canada, Daoud said, making them eligible to claim asylum. Daoud said he, too, had heard of people turned away despite a family connection. Others are truly ineligible, he said, but have come to the border without understanding the rules. 'They are typically the most vulnerable of the vulnerable,' he said. By turning them away, Canadian officials 'are doing ICE's job for them.' Most people claiming asylum in Canada have a legitimate fear of persecution or even death, Daoud said. In 2024, nearly 80 per cent of asylum seekers who made their case to an immigration judge were granted refugee status (excluding claims that were withdrawn or abandoned). Daoud said this proves most claims are legitimate. If eight out of 10 asylum seekers have a legitimate claim and those returned to the U.S. are facing increasing odds of deportation 'what is the statistical probability that we're sending people to their death?' The contested agreement has been challenged in the courts. In 2023, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld it, but sent a question over its constitutionality back to a lower court. Though especially concerning now, the Safe Third Country Agreement, first signed in 2002, has never been acceptable, said Adam Sadinsky, advocacy co-chair at the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, which is participating in the continuing legal challenge. 'The way that refugees and asylum seekers are treated in the United States has always been problematic,' Sadinsky said. But he said the system has only become worse under Trump. 'What's clear in the United States now is that the asylum process is not being respected,' Sadinsky said. In an emailed statement, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada spokesperson Julie Lafortune said the U.S. 'continues to meet the criteria ... to be a designated safe third country.' She said Ottawa continues to monitor developments in the U.S. to 'ensure that the conditions that led to the designation as a safe third country continue to be met.' Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab's office declined The Gazette's request for an interview. The Liberal government has since tabled Bill C-2, which, among other measures, would further restrict migrants' ability to claim asylum.
National Post
3 hours ago
- National Post
Letters: 'We're done being quiet' in Alberta
Article content This is in stark contrast to the pro-Palestinian groups that have chosen, in the spirit of Hamas, to spread hate in the world. We have watched these groups as they have become increasingly hateful, aggressive and violent. They have escalated from rallies outside of Jewish community centres and schools, to encampments on university grounds, to shootings at Jewish schools, to hunting Jews after a football match on the eve of Kristallnacht, to the murder of two innocent Israeli embassy staff. Standing next to them are the politicians who offer hollow words about antisemitism at the same time as they refuse to recognize or condemn the source of this evil. Article content Kudos to the Conservatives for pushing the Carney government (although unsuccessfully) to tender a spring budget. Obviously Prime Minister Carney thinks he has clear sailing to spend almost half a trillion dollars without telling Canadians where those billions will be going. Article content In any democracy the government is expected to inform taxpayers as to how it plans to spend their hard-earned tax dollars. Without a budget there is no real accountability or possibility for oversight. This move is a reminder for Carney, who keeps opining that voters gave him a massive mandate when in fact he has only a minority government. Article content Peter Shawn Taylor's article highlights a basic truth: when nature calls, fairness isn't optional — it's essential. But fairness means designing solutions that benefit the greatest number. Article content Gender inequality in washroom access is real. Long lines outside women's washrooms reflect a design failure rooted in outdated assumptions. But removing urinals or forcing everyone to sit doesn't fix the problem — it worsens it by increasing delays for all. Article content Instead of eliminating efficiency, we should expand it — especially as an aging population increases demand. Biological differences exist, and public infrastructure should reflect them. As in architecture, form should follow function. Article content The real issue is inadequate infrastructure for private functions in public spaces. Victorian prudishness once discouraged public washrooms; today, that legacy leaves us unprepared. Try to find easily accessible relief on the Toronto subway system. Moreover Canadians shouldn't adopt Europe's approach of charging for access. Intuition of natural law suggests that there is something wrong in demanding forced payment for nature's call. Instead, we should think and act based on utilitarianism: add urinals, increase public facilities, and open seasonal restrooms year-round. Article content Canada's $10-a-day child-care plan, legislated under Bill C-35, promised access, inclusion, and affordability — but it's clearly failing. Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan, holding over 73 per cent of Canada's child-care spaces outside Quebec, have refused the federal extension due to inadequate funding, soaring costs and discriminatory rules excluding private centres. Manitoba illustrates this clearly, giving raises only to educators in public or non-profit centres, leaving private educators behind simply due to business structure, not qualifications or quality. Alberta families face similar absurdities: newly licensed private centres can't access affordability grants, forcing parents into costly market-rate fees or endless waitlists.
