A few days ago, my new member of Parliament, Conservative Don Stewart, sent a letter to Mayor Olivia Chow asking her to “take action” on the rabid and ever-rising antisemitism displayed on the streets of Toronto.
His letter was pointed and honest and even included recommendations on what could be done to curb the Jew hatred that has, in the 430 days since Oct. 7, become absolutely intolerable for my community in Toronto, Montreal and in other major centres across the country.
Not many politicians at the federal, provincial or municipal levels have stuck their necks out like Stewart did this past week.
Not Doug Ford. Not his solicitor general Michael Kerzner. And certainly not the mainly other federal MPs who represent Toronto.
I checked with Stewart’s constituency office on Friday. There has not been a peep from Chow.
The Jew hatred has become so rampant and virulent that just last week the Free Press (south of the border) featured a long-form article on the spread of antisemitism in Canada under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and much of his Hamas-loving caucus (the latter my words).
According to this article, antisemitic incidents have increased 670%.
In his letter, Stewart cites the horrific number of incidents that have occurred in Toronto and contends that it is “only a matter of time” before Toronto experiences the same level of “savage antisemitic behaviour” seen recently in Montreal.
”Here in Toronto Hamas supporters are emboldened by the lack of action by you and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau,” he writes. ”It is your responsibility as mayor to stand up and speak out about these antisemitic incidents — not blame staff, a councillor or the police every time they occur.”
He adds that her actions “set the tone” in Toronto and suggests several ways she can start to remedy the problem.
One of them is to not sit on her hands but to publicly denounce each and every act of antisemitism and to announce a “zero tolerance policy” going forward.
Another is to ask the police to publicly put together a strategy on how to address the incidents by enforcing municipal bylaws and breaches of the Criminal Code.
It was quite clear that a Hamasnik sitting in a blood-soaked chair openly imitating Yahya Sinwar’s final moments in a Jewish neighbourhood was a hate crime.
But instead, the weak and ineffectual Toronto police arrested Rebel News founder Ezra Levant for filming this vile spectacle.
I’m not surprised that Chow — who is supposed to be mayor of all the people — has not responded to this open letter, which was posted on X.
For 400-plus days, this Marxist mayor has gone out of her way to snub Toronto’s Jewish community by failing to appear at significant events (most especially the poignant Oct. 7 memorial) and always responding a day late (or days late) about antisemitic acts with half-hearted statements.
It is clear to me that she is fine surrounding herself with antisemites (many from Progress Toronto) and doesn’t even have the political savvy, empathy or smarts to even address the problem (no matter what she herself thinks).
It is also obvious that Chow — as I predicted would happen based on her history — is in way over her head and sees her role only as addressing her pet projects, dressing up for city events (often in unprofessional outfits that would have better suited her 20 years ago) and posing on social media as if she believes herself to be a rock star.
She is happy to putter away with children’s breakfast programs, pretend she’s building affordable housing by throwing together the same emergency shelters that are supposed to be a stopgap measure but aren’t and to bike lane the city to death (all pet projects she pursued when she and Jack Layton were councillors in the year 2000.)
It has become obvious to me that Chow is still operating like it’s 20 years ago when she was on council and the city was much, much different.
The major responsibilities of a large-city mayor like safety and security, gridlock, fiscal accountability and ensuring that the needs of all tax paying residents of the city are met are well beyond her scope.
Instead of addressing them, she appears to pretend the problems just don’t exist. She simply can’t handle them and it would appear her sophomoric radical NDP staff can’t either.
If I were her at this juncture, I’d appoint a member of council — like James Pasternak or Brad Bradford — to take the lead on the antisemitism issue and give them the authority to deal with the police.
I can tell you one thing: Don Stewart is right.
If Chow doesn’t get her act together and instructs the police to get off their butts too, I predict there will be bloodshed.
The Jewish community in Toronto is at the end of their rope.
