Avi Lewis

Preparing for election

Canadians will elect a new federal government on April 28. The resignation of Justin Trudeau upended expectations, and opinion polls suggest a more competitive contest than was predicted when the year began.

While British Columbia’s Jewish community has not historically produced a great number of elected officials at the municipal, provincial or federal level, several candidates in the province have connections to the community.

photo - Tamara Kronis — Tamara Kronis *(photo from rossmcbride.com)*

In the Vancouver Island riding of Nanaimo-Ladysmith, Conservative Tamara Kronis is mounting another run. She came a close second in 2021, in one of the most watched races in the country. Paul Manly, one of only two Green Party members of Parliament at the time, was defeated in that race by New Democrat Lisa Marie Barron. Barron is seeking a second term while Manly, who has been an outspoken critic of Israel, seeks to retake the seat and Kronis aims to beat them both. With the New Democrats and the Greens at historic lows in opinion polls, and the Liberals having placed a distant fourth last election, this may be the likeliest BC riding to send a Jewish representative to Ottawa.

Kronis is a lawyer with experience in the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal, as an independent director of Ontario Hydro, and she was an instructor at George Brown College in Toronto. She has served as advocacy director of Egale Canada, the national LGBTQ+ rights organization.

photo - Zach Segal — Zach Segal *(photo from LinkedIn)*

In Richmond East-Steveston, Zach Segal is also running for the Conservatives. Born and raised in Richmond, Segal has served on the board of the Rotary Club of Richmond, the Kehila Society, and the City of Richmond’s seniors advisory committee. He was also a Big Brother in the Big Brother and Big Sister Program.

During the Stephen Harper Conservative government, Segal worked in Ottawa in national defence and transportation, and now works in commercial real estate. Segal was the Conservative candidate in Vancouver Granville in 2019.

Richmond East-Steveston is a swing riding that has changed hands in each of the past three elections. First-term Liberal MP Parm Bains aims to hold the seat, which he took from the Conservatives in 2021.

In Vancouver Centre, filmmaker, activist and associate professor at the University of British Columbia Avi Lewis is running for the New Democratic Party, trying to unseat Liberal Hedy Fry. The longest-serving female MP in Canadian history, Fry has won 10 consecutive elections since defeating then-prime minister Kim Campbell in 1993.

photo - Avi Lewis — Avi Lewis *(photo from Wikipedia)*

Lewis is socialist royalty in Canada, son of the former Ontario NDP leader Stephen Lewis and grandson of David Lewis, a federal leader of the NDP in the 1970s and a leading figure in the NDP’s predecessor party, the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation, almost since its inception in the 1930s.

Avi Lewis is one of Canada’s most prominent critics of Israel. He has characterized Israel’s actions in Gaza as “genocide,” urged the Canadian government to cease arms sales to Israel, and supports South Africa’s call for the International Court of Justice to investigate Israel.

While the New Democrat candidate historically comes second in Vancouver Centre, Fry has held the riding even in the darkest days of the federal Liberals’ fortunes and, in 2021, won by more than 10 points over her NDP opponent. With polls currently suggesting historic lows for the NDP, the 83-year-old Fry seems as safe as ever.

Ken Charko, who has close ties to Vancouver’s Jewish community, is running as the Conservative candidate in Vancouver Quadra. Charko is a Vancouver business leader who is the proprietor of the Dunbar Theatre and has served as president of the Hillcrest Community Centre for the past five years.

photo - Ken Charko — Ken Charko *(photo from vancouverquadra.ca)*

Charko has been awarded the Trinjan Diversity Award – an award given by Trinjan & Mata Gujri Foundation for commitment to diversity in the workplace. He has volunteered with groups such as the Canadian Red Cross, the Vancouver Olympic Committee and the Vancouver Paralympic Committee. He provides guidance to students of the Vancouver Film School on aspects of the motion picture industry. He also serves on the board of the Motion Picture Theatre Association of BC, representing independent theatre owners. He is a recipient of the Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year.

Quadra has been held by the Liberals even longer than Vancouver Centre, having been snatched from the Conservatives in 1984 by then-prime minister John Turner. Successive Liberal MPs have held it ever since, including Joyce Murray, since 2008. Murray is not running for re-election and the Liberals have nominated Wade Grant, who has served as an elected Musqueam councilor. While riding boundaries have changed slightly since 2021, Murray won the seat easily, besting her Conservative opponent by about 15 points.

Election Day is Monday, April 28. In British Columbia, polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. There are many other ways and days to vote, including advance polling from April 18 to 21, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; early voting until April 22 at any Election Canada office; and an opportunity to vote by mail. To vote by mail, you must apply online or at an Elections Canada office by April 22. Full details are available at elections.ca.

CJPAC, the Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee, is urging Jews and allies to engage in the political process and has details and opportunities at cjpac.ca/elections. CJPAC is a national, independent, multi-partisan organization, whose mandate is to engage Jewish Canadians and allies in the democratic process and to foster active political participation.

CIJA, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, has additional election-related information, including questions to ask candidates on topics including accountability for hate, strengthening Canada-Israel relations, and safeguarding Canadian society and values. See cija.ca.

Climate action update

Seth Klein speaks at the Press Conference from the Future on March 12. (photo by Lorne Mallin)

On March 12, hundreds turned out for a creative event that imagined what could be accomplished by 2025 with climate movement leaders in government.

“With the money that would have gone to piping some of the worst oil in the world to the West Coast, we have instead unleashed a wave of investment in healthy people and healthy land,” Kukpi7 Judy Wilson told A Press Conference from the Future in front of Vancouver Public Library’s central branch.

Wilson, secretary-treasurer of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, was speaking as if the twinning of the Trans Mountain (TMX) pipeline had been scrapped in 2023 and a TMX reparations and healing secretariat had been created.

The press conference event was under the banner of a fictional ministry of just transition presenting an update on new programs and institutions slashing pollution, creating meaningful work, and addressing injustice and inequality in energy, Indigenous rights, housing, transit, public health and more.

There were two Jewish speakers: Seth Klein of the Climate Emergency Unit and filmmaker Avi Lewis as the minister of just transition, as well as Secwépemc/Ktunaxa filmmaker Doreen Manuel, director, Bosa Centre for Film and Animation, Capilano University; Rueben George, Sacred Trust, Tsleil-Waututh Nation; Khalid Boudreau, climate youth activist/organizer; Christine Boyle, Vancouver city councilor; Alison Gu, Burnaby city councilor; and Anjali Appadurai, Sierra Club BC.

photo - Kukpi7 Judy Wilson addresses the Press Conference from the Future — Kukpi7 Judy Wilson addresses the Press Conference from the Future. *(photo by Lorne Mallin)*

Klein, author of A Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency, spoke as chief executive officer and commissioner of the fictional Just Transition Transfer Agency. “Winning [on emissions reductions] also means leaving no one behind,” he said, “especially the regions that have long relied on revenue and jobs from oil and gas.”

Klein said that, like the Bank of Canada’s qualitative easing policies in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the just transition could be financed in a similar way.

“Most of that year, the Bank of Canada was buying up federal government securities to finance the COVID emergency response to the tune of $5 billion every week for a year,” said Klein. “Once we embedded our climate emergency goals within the mandate of the Bank of Canada, the bank proceeded to do this again for a mere four weeks a year, generating $20 billion for climate and just transition programs.”

Lewis said his government is committed to climate action, having carefully studied the conditions and capacities of Canada’s advanced industrial economy. “We conducted an inventory of our conversion needs to determine how many heat pumps, solar arrays, wind farms and electric buses we needed to electrify virtually everything and end our reliance on fossil fuels,” he said.

Lewis encouraged the audience to make the future presented in the event happen. “Do you want to live in this future? Are we ready to fight for this future? Because this future we described here today is the work of all of us – the fruits of our imagination and struggle – and that’s what we came here today to commune around: the future we can build together.”

Manuel, portraying the chair of the land back secretariat, updated progress of an imagined Land Back Act, whose goal is “to reverse the land theft that underlies the colonial nation state of Canada. That means that 80% is being systematically returned to Indigenous jurisdiction.”

After the speakers, and entertainment by the Carnival Band, volunteers engaged members of the audience on their thoughts and feelings about the climate emergency.

The March 12 event was part of a national day of action calling for the passage of a national Just Transition Act.

“The Just Transition Act is the most important missing piece of climate legislation in Canada and it needs to pass this sitting of the House of Commons,” said Katie Rae Perfitt, senior organizing specialist with 350.org, one of the press conference’s sponsoring organizations.

“We cannot tackle the climate crisis without rapidly phasing out fossil fuels,” said Perfitt. “Canadians deserve immediate action from our federal government to make that shift happen in a way that puts workers and communities first.”

– Courtesy A Press Conference from the Future ogranizers

Election changes little

Green party leader Annamie Paul lost her bid for a seat in Toronto Centre. (photo from annamiepaul.ca)

Annamie Paul, the first female Jewish leader of a Canadian federal party, saw her hopes crushed Monday night as the Green vote plummeted across the country and she badly lost her bid for a seat in Toronto Centre. Paul came fourth in the riding, taking less than 9% of the vote. Her party lost one of its two British Columbia seats but, in their only bright spot, picked up a new riding in Ontario.

Having been kneecapped by internal party clashes in the lead-up to the election call, Paul was in an unenviable position, leading a party that had tried to oust her in a battle sparked by, or at least nominally blamed on, Paul’s moderate call for restraint during the Israel-Hamas conflict last spring.

Paul was not the only leader disappointed on election night. While politicians painted the outcomes in sunny terms, no one got much of what they wanted. After a $600 million election in the midst of a pandemic, the big picture in Canada’s political landscape is almost unchanged. With minor adjustments expected as mail-in ballots are counted, the Liberals and Conservatives are almost exactly where they were when the election was called.

Most prominently, reelected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau failed in his gambit to turn his minority into a majority government. The expense, resources and dangers of a pandemic election were rewarded with a nearly identical outcome as the last election.

Likewise, Erin O’Toole, who led his Conservatives to an almost identical result, will face discontent over his attempts to pull the party to the centre. Had the strategy worked, he would have been dubbed a genius, but failure will almost certainly unleash the wrath of his party’s right flank, which was largely thrown under the bus after O’Toole won the leadership on a slogan that depicted him as the “true blue” candidate, the more right-leaning of the two front-running options.

Jagmeet Singh, leader of the New Democrats, and Yves-François Blanchet, leader of the Bloc Quebecois, both appeared to resonate with their target constituencies, but, when the votes were counted, their electoral fortunes were only mildly improved. Maxime Bernier, leader of the People’s Party, lost his bid for a seat in Quebec and, while his party’s surprisingly strong showing in parts of the country, particularly on the Prairies, may have hurt the Conservatives, it left his own candidates empty-handed.

Several B.C. ridings remained too close to call at press time, including Vancouver Granville. Liberal Taleeb Noormohamad was about 200 votes ahead of New Democrat Anjali Appadurai as mail-in ballots were being counted. Despite polls showing Liberals falling behind in the province, the party appears to have held all its seats and even picked up both Richmond ridings. Steveston-Richmond East is a swing riding that has returned to the Liberal fold after a two-year interregnum. But, while few observers thought Richmond Centre was in play, Conservative incumbent Alice Wong is marginally behind Liberal Wilson Miao.

There were only two known Jewish candidates in British Columbia. In Nanaimo-Ladysmith, Conservative Tamara Kronis remains about 1,000 votes behind New Democrat Lisa Marie Barron at press time, a margin that will be a steep climb to overcome with just mail-in ballots remaining. The riding was watched nationally, as it was one of just two Green seats in Parliament. Paul Manly, who has a history of anti-Israel activism, fell to third place in a tight race. In West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country, New Democrat Avi Lewis placed a respectable third, with about 26% of the vote in one of Canada’s wealthiest ridings, while Liberal incumbent Patrick Weiler held on against a comeback effort by former Conservative MP John Weston.

(See editorials, “Election about nothing” and “Green party reckonings.”)

Two Jews are on ballot

Jewish community members Tamara Kronis (Conservative party) and Avi Lewis (NDP) are running in the upcoming federal election. (photos from candidates)

British Columbia’s comparatively small Jewish community has produced a number of senior political figures, including the province’s first Jewish premier, Dave Barrett, and the current minister of finance, Selina Robinson, and minister of environment and climate change strategy, George Heyman. In this federal election, there appear to be just two candidates in British Columbia who are Jewish.

Tamara Kronis is the Conservative Party of Canada candidate for Nanaimo-Ladysmith. The riding is being closely watched by national observers as it is home to one of only two Green party MPs. Paul Manly, the incumbent, once sought an NDP nomination but was rejected by the party, apparently due to controversy over his positions on Israel and Palestine. While the other Green MP, former leader Elizabeth May, is seen as safe in her riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands, Manly appears to be in (at least) a three-way race with Kronis and New Democrat Lisa Marie Barron. Michelle Corfield is the Liberal candidate.

Kronis is a lawyer and heads a jewelry manufacturing and retail business. Until last month, she was associate chair of the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal and an independent director of Toronto Hydro. Earlier in her career, she served as director of advocacy for EGALE Canada, the national LGBTQ+ organization. She was a trial assistant at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Across the water and across the spectrum, Avi Lewis is the New Democratic Party candidate in West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea-to-Sky Country. A scion of Canada’s left-wing dynasty, Lewis is the son of journalist Michele Landsberg and Stephen Lewis, a former Ontario NDP leader and Canadian ambassador to the United Nations. His grandfather, David Lewis, was the leader of Canada’s NDP, from 1971 to 1975.

Avi Lewis is a journalist and activist who recently produced and co-wrote the Emmy-nominated animated short film about the Green New Deal, Message from the Future, with U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Lewis co-authored “The Leap Manifesto,” which was “a call to action on climate and inequality that was launched by an historic coalition of Indigenous leaders, unions and environmentalists, and signed by more than 50,000 Canadians,” according to Lewis’s website.

Lewis has an uphill climb. The riding, which straddles some of Canada’s wealthiest voters and the disparate communities along Howe Sound, has back-and-forthed between the Liberals and Conservatives in recent years. It is held by two-term Liberal MP Patrick Weiler, who is beating back a challenge from former Conservative MP John Weston. In 2019, the NDP candidate came fourth, well behind the Green party.