Hampstead mayor calling on Liberal MP Housefather to cross floor to Conservatives
Hampstead Mayor Jeremy Levi is predicting that the federal Liberals could lose much of the Jewish vote in the Mount-Royal riding and go Conservative in the next federal election.
The riding has been a Liberal stronghold since 1940, but Levi believes Justin Trudeau's party's hold on the riding has been put into question because of the last six months and an NDP-led vote on Palestinian statehood last week.
MP Anthony Housefather currently holds the seat that Irwin Cotler held before him and Pierre Elliot Trudeau before him.
"With Anthony on a Conservative ticket, I believe it would be a Conservative riding," said Levi. "This riding is now a swing riding and if we push it the right way, I believe it will go blue, it will go Conservative."
Housefather said recently he's now reflecting on his future with the Liberals and Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre visited the riding on Sunday. Poilievre got a rousing reception when he spoke to a packed Congregation Beth Israel Beth Aaron in Cote-St-Luc.
"We will continue to stand up for the right of Israel to defend itself," said Poilivre during his speech. "We will reject any motions and resolutions before the United Nations that unfairly target the Jewish state."
He said when he visits mosques, he tells the people that he is a friend of the state of Israel and that "we can no longer have this business of saying one thing to one group and a completely different thing to another group."
The crowd of around 1,400 repeatedly cheered throughout his speech.
For Levi, a Conservative win under Housefather would mean more prominence for the riding in the next government.
"I think what will resonate with a lot of people is that if Anthony does cross the floor, nobody can tell the future, but from public perception, that seems like it would be an obvious fit for a cabinet position and everybody would love to have an MP in their riding in cabinet."
The poll monitoring site 338canada.com has the Liberals with a 46 per cent to 31 per cent lead of the vote in the riding, but if Housefather crosses the floor, as Levi is urging him to do, that could change.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Feds 'not interested' in investing in LNG facilities: energy minister
Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson says the federal government is 'not interested' in subsidizing future liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects, including the electrification of projects currently in the works.
Chants of 'shame on you' greet guests arriving for the annual White House correspondents' dinner
An election-year roast of U.S. President Joe Biden before journalists, celebrities and politicians at the annual White House correspondents' dinner Saturday.
Aerial photos show wide devastation left by tornado in China's Guangzhou
Aerial photos posted by Chinese state media on Sunday showed the wide devastation of a part of the southern city of Guangzhou after a tornado swept through the day before, killing five people, injuring dozens others and damaging over a hundred buildings.
Global measles cases nearly doubled in one year, researchers say
The number of measles cases around the world nearly doubled from 2022 to 2023, researchers say, presenting a challenge to efforts to achieve and maintain elimination status in many countries.
Fair share: the right office solution can take finding the right partner
The rise of remote and hybrid work has made it harder to justify a full office, so more are leaning on co-working spaces that they share with many others for convenience and cost savings. The choice, however, comes at the expense of privacy and control.
A top Qatari official urges Israel and Hamas to do more to reach a ceasefire deal
A senior Qatari official has urged both Israel and Hamas to show "more commitment and more seriousness" in ceasefire negotiations in interviews with Israeli media, as pressure builds on both sides to move toward a deal that would set Israeli hostages free and bring potential respite in the nearly seven-month-long war in Gaza.
What Trudeau's podcast appearances say about the Liberals' next ballot box question
Trudeau recently appeared on four podcasts as he travels the country talking up the Liberals' latest budget, which he's pitching as a plan to inject more economic fairness into society for those under 40 — a cohort that has kept Trudeau in power since 2015 but is increasingly turning to Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.
Russian drones set a hotel ablaze in a Ukrainian Black Sea city
Russian drones early Sunday struck the Black Sea city of Mykolaiv, setting a hotel ablaze and damaging energy infrastructure, the local Ukrainian governor reported, while ammunition shortages continued to hobble Kyiv's troops in the more than two-year-old war.
A munitions explosion at a Cambodian army base kills 20 soldiers, but its cause is unclear
Security was tight around a military base in southwestern Cambodia on Sunday, a day after a huge explosion there killed 20 soldiers, wounded others and damaged nearby houses.