Canada’s Liberal Party elected Mark Carney as its leader on Sunday; he is set to succeed Justin Trudeau as prime minister.
While vowing to fight US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, Canada’s Jewish community is not convinced that he will keep the same vow to fight antisemitism, nor is his stance on Israel promising in the Diaspora.
A former governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, Carney has never previously held an elected position. He garnered 85.9% of the vote in the four-person Liberal Party race and will step in to succeed Trudeau, who was prime minister for the last nine years.
Though Carney will take office immediately, he will face Pierre Poilievre, the leader of Canada’s Conservative Party, in national elections that must be held no later than October.
According to the Forward, Poilievre has called Canadian Jews “the true indigenous people.” He hitchhiked through Israel in his youth. However, following backlash against Trump’s tariffs on Canadian imports, his party’s support has narrowed.
Uncertainty surrounding Canadian-Israeli relations under Carney
More than 335,000 Jews live in Canada, accounting for 0.9% of the population. Since the October 7 Hamas massacre, Canada’s Jewish population has faced a new level of antisemitic attacks. Between firebombs and gunshots at synagogues, antisemitic graffiti, and continued anti-Israel protests, the country has faced an antisemitic surge.
Trudeau previously criticized the IDF’s Gaza response, backed UN resolutions against Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and said he would enforce the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Even though Jewish leaders in Canada were supportive of Trudeau’s departure, they do not necessarily think Canada-Israel relations will be better under Carney.
He met with Netanyahu in 2012 when he visited Israel, according to the Forward. Since then, it’s been mixed signals despite condemning antisemitic attacks and calling for stronger enforcement of hate speech laws.
He has made mistakes in political debates and has appeared in social media posts from pro-Palestinian student groups. The Conservative mayor of Hampstead, Quebec, Jeremy Levi, accused Carney of being silent in recent statements on Israel and antisemitism.
On Instagram, Levi wrote, “Silence speaks volumes, and his silence is deafening.”
However, he was cited with a low grade on Palestinian rights by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East due to his lack of clear positions on the matter.
Carney has attended Holocaust memorial events and stated, “Never Again is more than a phrase – it must be a promise.”
While balancing public support for Israel’s right to defend itself and the removal of Hamas, he has also supported the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Carney mistakenly said he “was in agreement with Hamas” in answering a question on the governance of post-war Gaza. His chief rival interjected and said their party did not support Hamas, leading him to correct himself to say he supported the establishment of an independent Palestinian state without the involvement of the terror organization.
“I support the hard work of reaching a two-state solution, with a viable and free Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with the State of Israel,” Carney said last month. His critics still describe his response as bland.
Though many say he is not doing enough or speaking up, he was still one of 50 leaders and clergy who signed an open letter calling for the enforcement of law at pro-Palestinian protests, pushing for the identification of hate speech.
His October 7 social media response quoted Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel: “I learned the perils of language and those of silence. I learned that in extreme situations where human lives and dignity are at stake, neutrality is a sin.”
The question remains: Will he take this to heart in his role as prime minister?