CCP appeals to Toronto's Jewish community

Photo: Spencer Colby The Canadian Press Voters in Toronto-St. Paul's will choose a new MP on June 24 to replace Carolyn Bennett.

The Canadian Press in Ottawa

Published yesterday at 6:11 p.m.

• Canada

Federal Conservatives are asking the Jewish community in a Toronto riding to send Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a message for his “betrayal” by voting for the Conservative candidate in the upcoming byelection.

Voters in Toronto-St. Paul's will choose a new MP on June 24 to replace longtime Liberal cabinet minister Carolyn Bennett, who retired last December after 26 years in the seat.

Justin Trudeau is trailing in all major polls. Political observers are watching to see if this trend will impact results in this liberal stronghold since the 1990s.

The Conservative Party recently sent a letter to voters from the constituency detailing what he calls Justin Trudeau's “silence” in the face of rising “hatred toward Jews” since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas last fall.

The letter signed by deputy leader Melissa Lantsman, shared with The Canadian Press by a member of the Jewish community, says voters need to send the prime minister “a message about his betrayal of the Jewish community” by voting for the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) in this byelection.

Neither the CPC nor Leader Pierre Poilievre’s office responded to questions about whether the letter was intended for Jewish voters or was being shared more broadly.

The 2021 census data shows that Toronto-St. Paul’s is the riding with the fifth-highest proportion of Jewish residents in the country, at 15 per cent.