The much too long federal election campaign is over and with a minority government delivered to Justin Trudeau’s Liberals, it is safe to say that we will be headed to the polls again sooner than four years from now.

Anthony Housefather and company celebrate victory.

Locally, Anthony Housefather was returned to office as the Member of Parliament for Mount Royal. He defeated David Tordjman of the Conservatives, also a city councillor in Côte Saint-Luc and prior to that our Director of Public Works and Engineering.

Anthony in campaign mode.

Anthony was our mayor in CSL for a decade and I think everyone agrees he did an outstanding job as our MP. He worked tirelessly for his constituents, as did his devoted office staff, and never missed a community event. Only days after an exhaustive campaign he already confirmed that he will attend and speak at my CSL Cats Committee benefit Thursday night, an initiative I might add he helped make a reality as mayor. It was this worth ethic that translated into a machine of campaign workers that resulted in more than 24,000 votes. Anthony’s door to door campaign never stopped over the 2015 election. He also created initiatives that none of his predecessors had never even considered, such as rotating community assemblies and the evolution of a committee consisting of municipal, provincial and school board reps from the riding. In addition he went the extra mile to secure grants for community institutions and programs.

As chair of the Federal Justice Committee, Anthony also had a high profile nationally. An impeccably bilingual lawyer, he would be a nice fit in the federal cabinet.

“I am profoundly grateful to the hundreds of people who helped out over the course of the last few months,”Anthony said. “We achieved amazing results in Mount Royal! In my first election in 2015 we improved the Liberal margin from five points in 2011 to 12.5 points and in this election we improved it to over 30 points, winning polls across the entire riding by great margins. I am honoured to have the opportunity to continue to serve the residents of City of Côte Saint-Luc, Town of Mount Royal, Snowdon, Ville de Hampstead / Town of Hampstead and Côte-des-Neiges and will keep doing my best to represent everyone effectively.”

David Tordjman and his son.

Running for the Tories is never an easy task anywhere in Quebec and David deserves credit for the efforts he made. He could not even be active on the actual election night due to the Jewish holiday.

See Glenn J. Nashen's blog.

The much too long federal election campaign is over and with a minority government delivered to Justin Trudeau’s Liberals, it is safe to say that we will be headed to the polls again sooner than four years from now.

Anthony Housefather and company celebrate victory.

Locally, Anthony Housefather was returned to office as the Member of Parliament for Mount Royal. He defeated David Tordjman of the Conservatives, also a city councillor in Côte Saint-Luc and prior to that our Director of Public Works and Engineering.

On the campaign trail.

Anthony was our mayor in CSL for a decade and I think everyone agrees he did an outstanding job as our MP. He worked tirelessly for his constituents, as did his devoted office space, and never missed a community event. Only days after an exhaustive campaign he already confirmed that he will attend and speak at my CSL Cats Committee benefit Thursday night, an initiative I might add he helped make a reality as mayor. It was this worth ethic that translated into a machine of campaign workers that resulted in more than 24,000 votes. Anthony’s door to door campaign never stopped over the 2015 election. He also created initiatives that none of his predecessors had never even considered, such as rotating community assemblies and the evolution of a committee consisting of municipal, provincial and school board reps from the riding. In addition he went the extra mile to secure grants for community institutions and programs.

As chair of the Federal Justice Committee, Anthony also had a high profile nationally. An impeccably bilingual lawyer, he would be a nice fit in the federal cabinet.

“I am profoundly grateful to the hundreds of people who helped out over the course of the last few months,”Anthony said. “We achieved amazing results in Mount Royal! In my first election in 2015 we improved the Liberal margin from five points in 2011 to 12.5 points and in this election we improved it to over 30 points, winning polls across the entire riding by great margins. I am honoured to have the opportunity to continue to serve the residents of City of Côte Saint-Luc, Town of Mount Royal, Snowdon, Ville de Hampstead / Town of Hampstead and Côte-des-Neiges and will keep doing my best to represent everyone effectively.”

David Tordjman and his son.

Running for the Tories is never an easy task anywhere in Quebec and David deserves credit for the efforts he made. He could not even be active on the actual election night due to the Jewish holiday.

See Glenn J. Nashen's blog.

Almost two years ago, before the 2017 Côte Saint-Luc municipal elections got into  full gear, a new Facebook page called Let’s Chat was created by local activist and businesswoman Marissa Sidel. It attracted a lot of attention, with residents airing their gripes and candidates chiming in. Some others  pages  like   Côte Saint-Luc Families and CSL Unsensored also materialized.

Marissa Sidel

Upon the election of the new council, Our Public Affairs and Communications Director Darryl Levine launched CSL Ideas. We already had a general city Facebook page with general updates and information.

After the election Let’s Chat  CSL expanded to become Let’s Chat CSL, Hampstead Montreal West 2.0. Then last week the page was taken down by Facebook. Initially Marissa tried  to revive it as Let’s Chat 3.0. It seems the  page got caught up in a spam folder algorithm and the name needed to be changed.

Marissa has now introduced West End Politics, aiming  for a broader audience and mandate. “This group is meant for discussion surrounding local issues in the West End,” she notes. “The West End constitutes CSL, NDG, Hampstead, Montreal West and TMR. All issues are welcome to be discussed. The purpose of this group is to be a citizen led conversation about anything that affects the West End. The group is for the people and by the people."

Working  alongside Marissa is her brother and business partner Noah, a former journalist, communications professional, political candidate and most recently an active voice for the Edinburgh Elementary School community in Montreal West. What’s refreshing about this page is the fact it will not just focus on municipal issues in CSL, Hampstead and Montreal West, but we will hear about the provincial and federal level and yes the school boards.

"There’s a lot we can do as a group of people. I’m a little tired of the  'we have no lights on Cavendish and Kildare' posts."

I have been active on Facebook for years, with personal and political pages. In addition, I am an administrator or moderator for the English Montreal School Board, the CSL Trap Neuter Return program, CSL Central Bark, Montreal Food Scene and Carré Union. 

Anthony Housefather

Besides  members of our city council, Liberal Member of Parliament for Mount Royal Anthony Housefather and D’Arcy McGee Liberal MNA David Birnbaum are frequent posters to these local pages.

Housefather is thriving in his role as our representative in Ottawa and this week he posted a video of his impressive  back and forth with the Bloc , who have proposed a bill that would give English-speaking Quebecers in the federal civil service fewer rights to work in their language than any other civil servant in Canada. “In this video my vision of Canada comes out loudly and clearly in both official languages,” Anthony stated on his Facebook page. You can see it here is you have access to Facebook.

With a federal election set for October, West End politics will no doubt be occupied with that topic.

For the first 10 years of my city council career in Côte Saint-Luc, I worked under Anthony Housefather as mayor. He is an extraordinarily gifted man whose ultimate dream was always to become a Member of Parliament. In 2015 that became a reality when he won a hard fought election to represent the Mount Royal riding.

It is no exaggeration to say that Anthony has probably been the MP who has made the strongest effort to maintain close relations with his constituents. When he is not in Ottawa, he never misses a public event. He remains a proud resident of Côte Saint-Luc and luckily one of my constituents in District 2.

One of the many excellent initiatives Anthony introduced was something he calls Anthony’s Assembly. Throughout each year he rotates between  Côte Saint-Luc, Hampstead, Town of Mount Royal and Côte des Neiges to hold Town Hall style meetings where constituents can be brought up to date on his activities. The most recent such gathering was on August 22 at CSL City Hall where a nice crowd gathered.

A fabulous public speaker, Anthony does so without notes.  At the Assembly he spoke and answered questions for nearly two hours. There was not one question he did not have a good response to, be it relations with the United States, the recent spat with Saudi Arabia and refugees and immigration.

Anthony was very proud to remind everyone  that the City of Côte Saint-Luc is a finalist in the Smart Cities Challenge. We have already been allocated $250,000 by the federal government to fine tune our project which makes sure seniors are well cared for. Two District 2 residents, Charles Guerin and Marc Chriqui, have been integrally involved. There are eight finalists and the winner takes home $10 million from the federal government so stay tuned.

Anthony Housefather delivers his remarks.

“One of my roles as an MP is to bring money into this  riding,” said Anthony, who has done exactly that in so many ways over the last three years.

On the battle with President Donald Trump over tariffs, Anthony said: “I think this will be withdrawn when NAFTA is signed, but you can never be sure.”

The Trudeau Liberals have taken some hits regarding its position on Israel,  but Anthony shared some significant data which shows that the his government does in fact have the best record at the United Nations in opposing anti-Israel resolutions: 87 percent compared to 61 percent for Stephen Harper’s Tories, 19 percent for the Paul Martin Liberals and 18 percent for Brian Mulroney’s Tories.

Anthony noted that 31 percent of the Mount Royal riding is Jewish and as a result he gets an overwhelmingly large number of emails related to Israel. As a result he and Toronto Jewish MP Michael Levitt work exceedingly hard on quarterbacking all of the important Jewish dossiers.

Bravo to Anthony for a job well done!

When Anthony Housefather was elected as the Liberal Member of Parliament for Mount Royal more than two years ago he promised to make regular communications with his constituents a priority. He has indeed made good on that, holding rotating public assemblies in Côte Saint-Luc, Hampstead, Côte des Neiges and TMR. In addition, he has maintained a steady presence on social media, organized mailings to each home and secured a high profile in the media.

Anthony Housefather surrounded by his guests, including me at the top left.

One of Anthony’s new ideas was to hold regular Summits of Elected Officials. This round-table format brings together elected officials from the municipal and provincial levels, as well as school boards,  with Anthony as chair.

The most recent such gathering occurred last week at Côte Saint-Luc City Hall. I was joined by Mayor Mitchell Brownstein and Councillors Dida Berku, Ruth Kovac, David Tordjman, Mitch Kujavsky.  Also in attendance were:TMR   Councillors Minh-Diem Le Thi and Jonathan Lang; Hampstead Mayor William Steinberg and Councillors Leon Elfassy and Jacky Edery; Côte des Neiges/NDG Borough Mayor  Sue Montgomery; D’Arcy McGee Liberal MNA David Birnbaum and staff members Elisabeth Prass and Chris Savard; Charlotte Thierry from the office of Mont Royal Liberal MNA and Quebec Government Treasury Board President Pierre Arcand; Commission Scolaire de Montréal (CSDM) Commissioner for Côte des Neiges Khokon Maniruzzaman; and Sonny Moroz, Chelsea Craig and Izabel Cujoz-Shulman from Anthony’s office.

It was a most interesting exchange and a great opportunity to dialogue on common issues such as the Cavendish extension.

Anthony began with a look  at federal matters of concern to us  followed by David Birnbaum who spoke about Quebec issues of concern and each Mayor spoke about issues of concern to their city. .Khokon Maniruzzaman and I provided school board updates. Naturally all the discussions were confidential but it allowed us to work together and plan together to resolve issues of common concern.  A highly useful exercise.

The City of Côte Saint-Luc hosted its traditional Canada Day Citizenship Ceremony on July 1 at the Aquatic and Community Centre. With Judge Barbara Seal presiding, 39 candidates from 18 countries were sworn in. 

Dan Laxer and Dr. Laurie Betito from CJAD were the emcees. Kelly Guerrier and Constable David Pouliot from the RCMP joined Judge Seal as part of the Platform Party. Mayor Mitchell Brownstein, members of city council, Mount Royal Liberal Member of Parliament Anthony Housefather and D'Arcy McGee Liberal MNA David Birnbaum each spoke and helped handout the certificates. 

Birnbaum, Brownstein, Housefather, and Seal welcome a new citizen.

Mayor Brownstein, who initiated these ceremonies in the city and is an immigration lawyer by profession, said this process touches his heart. He spoke about his late grandfather who came to Canada on August 19, 1927 from Europe. "You," he said to the new citizens, "will always remember being sworn in on July 1, 2017 on Canada's 150th anniversary."

Housefather, our former mayor, said that we are the only city where an entire council comes out to welcome new citizens.

Birnbaum welcomed them to a very "distinct,"  province and promised that they would not feel any tension. He must be comforted by the PQ slipping in the polls.

I take my oath with the others.

As the new citizens rose to take their oath, so did all of us in the audience.

The ceremony concluded with the singing of our national anthem and a small reception,

In the 17 months since Anthony Housefather was elected as the Liberal Member of Parliament for the Mount Royal riding, I believe he has exceeded expectations in terms of his performance both within his constituency and in Ottawa.

As an MP he could not be closer to the people who elected him, always present at community events and going the extra mile by having Town Hall meetings throughout the year in different parts of his constituency. Such was the case on March 16 at the Irving Adessky Community Centre in Hampstead.

Anthony Housefather addresses his Town Hall meeting.

I served as a city councillor under Anthony for 10 years when he was mayor of Côte Saint-Luc before he moved on to federal politics. He is a born leader and a walking encyclopedia on nearly every dossier he must deal with. Speaking notes are never needed and when asked a question, he is able to respond accurately and immediately.

Hampstead Mayor William Steinberg introduced Anthony, noting that the two first met in 1994. “He came to my door and was campaigning to become the youngest councillor in the Town of Hampstead’s history,” he recalled. “He stayed for about a half hour; he was young, enthusiastic and energetic. He has not changed a bit.”

Steinberg went on to explain how their paths crossed again in 2000 when his wife Doris dragged him into politics to fight against the forced municipal mergers and how they worked together to both battle the forced mergers and then fight for demerger. In 2005 Steinberg was elected mayor of Hampstead and Anthony was elected as mayor of Côte Saint-Luc so they continued to work together. “Anthony is a valuable Member of Parliament because as a former councillor and mayor he stays close to his constituents,” he said.

Steinberg hailed Anthony not only for these Town Halls, but his summits with elected officials in the territories he serves (Côte Saint-Luc, Hampstead, Snowdon, Côte des Neiges and Town of Mount Royal). “Sometimes I vote Liberal, sometimes Conservative,” volunteered Steinberg. “I do not vote NDP. One thing I give the Liberals credit for is that they allow free votes for their MPs. I give Anthony credit for he is not afraid to vote against his party.”

That provided the perfect opening for Anthony to explain his leading role in having a bill passed aimed at preventing genetic discrimination. He did so by working with Toronto MP Rob Oliphant to lobby enough members of his own governing party to ensure that more than 100 Liberal backbenchers joined Conservatives and New Democrats to give final approval to the bill, this despite warnings from Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that it is unconstitutional. Housefather noted that in his opinion the bill was constitutional and that the majority of experts who testified before Parliament agreed that it was indeed constitutional.

The bill is aimed at ensuring that Canadians can get genetic tests to help identify health risks and take preventive measures, without fear that they'll be penalized when it comes to getting a job or life and health insurance. It would make it illegal to require a person to undergo genetic testing, or disclose the results of previous tests, as a condition of signing or continuing an insurance policy or any other contract or agreement. In addition, it would also prohibit anyone from sharing genetic test results without written consent, although there are exceptions for physicians and researchers. This bill has enormous significance for the Jewish community which has a considerable number of genetic mutations such as the BRAC 1 and BRAC2 genes for breast cancer in much higher density than the general population. Having the law adopted was a big priority for Jewish community organizations.

Anthony went on to explain that he has no issues with the federal government referring the question of constitutionality to the Supreme Court.

"Either way, we already knew with statements having been made by the insurance industry that somebody was going to challenge the constitutionality of the law," said Anthony, the Liberal chair of the Justice and Human Rights Committee that refused to amend the bill to suit the government.

“Having the federal government refer the matter directly to the top court "means that we will have an answer from the Supreme Court far faster than if a challenge is started in a lower court by industry or by someone," he said.

Anthony credits his years in municipal politics for providing the experience necessary to work with colleagues to have obtained the necessary votes from his fellow Liberal backbenchers and members of the opposition. “It goes to show that even if you are not in cabinet, you can have power,” he remarked.

Anthony was also proud to talk about how his Justice Committee issued a report recommending the Liberal government revive and expand the Court Challenges Program. The Government recently announced it was doing so and accepted most recommendations of the report, expanding the program to allow funding based on challenges to the Official Languages Act as well as additional charter rights.. The new program to fund court challenges will include cases based on freedom of religion, freedom of democratic rights, and right to liberty and security as well as equality and language rights.
Justice Minister Wilson-Raybould said the renewed program will ensure that the government "promotes access to justice for Canadians who need it the most," adding that Canada's justice system will need to continue to evolve. The promise to restore the program, which was scrapped by the Stephen Harper Conservatives in 2006, was included in the 2015 Liberal campaign platform and the mandate letters for Heritage Minister Melanie Joly and Wilson-Raybould.

Anthony’s staff both in Montreal and Ottawa receive a lot of e-mail correspondence. He expressed fear about the rising escalation of bigotry. “I have never seen in my adult life more of a prevalence since the United States elections,” he said. “It has now become socially normal and tolerated.”

Anthony alluded to the Quebec mosque terrorist attack, Montreal and Toronto imams who preached anti-Semitic theories, the “Punch a Zionist” comment by a McGill student leader and the ongoing BDS movement on university campuses – the new form of anti-Semitism.

Anthony also discussed the US-Canada relationship, the Syrian refugee issue, Motion 103, the government’s plan to introduce legislation to legalize cannabis this spring and Trudeau in general. “I think he is doing a very good job,” he said. “A lot of people have the wrong perception of him. He is actually one of the smartest people I’ve ever met.”

Besides Mayor Steinberg, Hampstead Councillors Michael Goldwax, Warren Budning and Leon Elfassy were on hand. I was joined by fellow Côte Saint-Luc Councillor Allan J. Levine.

To reach Anthony`s office call 514-283-0171 or e-mail anthony.housefather@parl.gc.ca. His constituency office is located at 4770 Kent, Suite 316.

Former Côte Saint-Luc Mayor Anthony Housefather is already enjoying his new job as Liberal Member of Parliament for the Mount Royal Riding. He is a fabulous public speaker and he demonstrates this once again in this Reply to The Speech of The Throne in the House of Commons.  He speaks about many things, including the extension of Cavendish Boulevard.

You can see it here and below.

There is no question about it. Mount Royal Liberal Member of Parliament Anthony Housefather has begun his first term in office no differently than his previous two decades in public office – as a man of the people.

On January 7 I attended a consultation meeting hosted by Anthony at the Irving L. Adessky Community Centre in Hampstead ahead of the Liberal government’s inaugural budget.

Anthony Housefather gets budget feedback.

“As promised during the election campaign, I want to hold regular public meetings throughout the Mount Royal riding,” Anthony stated. “I am pleased that, as part of the new Liberal government’s commitment to openness and transparency, our Finance Minister, Bill Morneau, has shown a strong interest in receiving feedback from all Canadians.”

Anthony said that consultation meetings like this will allow him to solicit constituents’ opinions and relay the priorities for our riding.

Anthony plans to have quarterly Town Hall meetings. The next one will be on March 30 in Town of Mount Royal, followed by one in the summer in Côte des Neiges, a fall session in Côte Saint-Luc and back to Hampstead in the winter of 2017.

One of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau`s election pledges was to pour money into infrastructure programs across the country. Anthony wanted to hear from audience members as to what they thought some of the riding priorities might be such as roads, water rehabilitation, sewers and aqueducts or the extension of Cavendish Boulevard. Unquestionably the latter solicited the most interest. Côte Saint-Luc City Council is solidly behind such a project, which would be an indirect link from Cavendish via Royalmount in TMR and then reconnecting with Cavendish on the St. Laurent side. Anthony gave some history behind this issue, noting that former mayor Gerald Tremblay appeared to be backing the extension during the merger days. He backed off when the suburbs demerged, but it appears as if present-day Mayor Denis Coderre wants it to happen.

Anthony believes it will take about $44 million each from the federal, provincial and municipal governments to make this happen. He intends to advocate immediately for the federal government to commit for the project. Christopher Savard from D’Arcy McGee Liberal MNA David Birnbaum’s office was in attendance and listening attentively. And as Anthony reasoned, residents of the Côte des Neiges – NDG borough want this to happen before major development occurs on the former Blue Bonnets land.

I am more optimistic than ever that I will live to see the Cavendish extension become a reality. At the age of 53, I sure hope so.

Anthony`s team is now settled into its office in Montreal where Irwin Cotler and before him Sheila Finestone were based, at the corner of Kent and Victoria. His local staff consists of Bonnie Feigenbaum, Izabel Cujoz-Shulman and Sonny Moroz while Alex Gray and Ariel Shapiro oversee the Ottawa office. All of them except Gray were at the January 7 meeting.


“With respect to actions we have started to respond to immigration and other federal files in the constituency and very much appreciate the support of the provincial members offices who have given us good information and support,” said Anthony.

On the national side Anthony wants to advise constituents about the Canada Summer Job Program where applications are now being accepted until February 26. This is a program under which full time students between 15 and 30 can be hired by non-profits, governments such as municipalities and enterprises with 50 employees or less. For non-profits the federal government pays the full cost of minimum wage for the employee and for municipalities and small businesses they cover 50 percent. “We have doubled the program this year so should be able to hire twice as many students as last year and we have a right to establish local objectives to go along with national ones,” he said.

We are lucky to have a man like Anthony representing us in Ottawa.