Canada: Jewish community disappointed with Trudeau, abandons progressives and supports Conservative Party

Justin Trudeau, prime minister of Canada, announced his resignation at a time when many members of the Jewish community were leaving the Liberal Party, to which the North American leader belongs, to support the Conservative Party.

In an interview with Israeli researcher Jude Taragin, of the Jewish organization The Jewish People Policy Institute, Andrew Perez, a Canadian progressive strategist specializing in domestic politics, explained the reasons that led to the switching of sides for many Jews in the North American country.

Trudeau's weak response to anti-Semitic protests

Perez argued that Trudeau's party had been losing Jewish support rapidly since the massacre on October 7, although the relationship between this community and the progressive political force was already damaged.

The strategist added that since the October 7 massacre, many Jews began to abandon the Liberal Party and support the Conservative Party.

This is because a large part of the local Jewish community felt that Trudeau did not do enough against the violent anti-Semitic protests in Canada, Perez said. He anlso added that the government's responses were perceived as too little and too late; "words without actual actions."

Trudeau's anti-Israel stance

In addition, much of the Jewish community was upset when Trudeau claimed he would comply with arrest warrants issued against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant.

For many Jews, Trudeau did not take any positive stance in favor of Israel, Perez remarked.

The demographic issue

The strategist also argued that demographic changes in Canada affected Trudeau's decisions, as a few years ago the local Arab population was significantly smaller. However, there are currently only 400,000 Jews while Arabs now number around 2 million, which makes the government consider them a priority, so Jewish voters feel ignored by the authorities.