As the stirring U.S. electoral campaign enters the home stretch and Israel looks as if it may go to the polls, election fever has also gripped Parliament Hill.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper asked Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean to dissolve Parliament, saying it was at its “useful end,” and he set an election date of Oct. 14, which also happens to be the first day of Sukkot.

Last month, Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC), acting on rumours of a possible Sukkot election date, sent an e-mail to the Harper government to let it know that an Oct. 14 election date would pose a serious problem for religiously observant Jewish voters.

“A vote that day would adversely affect the Jewish electorate and the ability of our community to volunteer on campaigns and for Elections Canada,” Congress CEO Bernie Farber wrote on the organization’s website. “Our respectful request… was to bear this in mind when deciding on an election date and avoid Oct. 14 if possible.”

According to Congress, Harper called its co-president, Rabbi Reuven Bulka, to explain the rationale for setting the date and express “a sincere understanding” of the Jewish community’s situation vis-a-vis the vote.

“We know Prime Minister Harper is a man of faith, and understand the challenges he must have faced in determining a date for the election,” Rabbi Bulka said.

Rabbi Bulka added that Congress will inform the community on alternate ways they can vote, which include going to advance polls and registering to vote at any Elections Canada office during the campaign.

Prior to the call, in what some considered pre-election pork-barrelling, Harper doled out tens of millions of dollars to recipients including Ontario’s flagging auto industry, and the City of Toronto to combat gang violence, and promised nearly $5 billion to Quebec for its aging highway infrastructure, among other spending pledges.

Meanwhile, Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion was touting his much-discussed “Green Shift” plan, promising $900 million in incentives to help the country’s farmers, truckers and other industries if a Liberal government is elected.

The Jewish community can also expect a lot of rhetoric from the major political parties as the quest for the ethnic communities’ vote ramps up.

As reported in The CJN over the last year, the Conservative government has been active in courting the Jewish community since coming to power in 2006: by making security funding available to Jewish organizations and supporting Israel at the United Nations, among other things. And Harper and outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert became friendly during last year’s Annapolis, Md., peace summit.

In the spring, Dion passed through the Toronto area and spoke to the Jewish community at Temple Har Zion in Thornhill, pledging $75 million in funds to ethnic communities across Canada to help beef up their security if the Liberals are elected.

For its part, the Green party announced last week that it had removed one of its candidates, John Shavluk, because of anti-Semitic remarks he allegedly made on a website in 2006.

Shavluk had represented the party in British Columbia’s Newton-North Delta riding until last week.

“Respect for diversity is a fundamental principle of the Green party,” leader Elizabeth May said on the party’s website. “We condemn anti-Semitism, and our members work to encourage respectful dialogue, diversity, peace and co-operation.”

May said she “thanked” Shavluk for his prior work and informed him that his views were not “consistent” with those of the party.

“I will not sign his nomination papers, and the Green party will nominate another candidate,” she said.

However, a Globe and Mail report on Sept. 6 said May is giving her support to Qais Ghanem, the Green candidate for Ottawa-South.

Ghanem, in an online discussion forum on the Green party website, has reportedly called on the party to adopt a resolution on “Palestine” in which it calls upon Israel to “end its forty-year [sic] occupation of all Arab lands without preconditions.”

As for the New Democratic Party, in June, its foreign affairs critic, Paul Dewar, asked the Harper government to reconsider the decision to boycott the upcoming 2009 World Conference Against Racism – commonly referred to as Durban II – after initially standing with the Conservatives and the Liberals on the issue.

The Bloc Québécois also believes Canada should have a presence at the conference.

The first Durban conference in 2001 is widely acknowledged as having turned into a virulently anti-Semitic affair.

With a truncated election campaign – just 36 days long, the minimum allowable by law – and the vote on a yom tov, Jewish community organizations and leaders have said they will offer an array of guidelines and advice to help voters make informed decisions on the candidates and parties.

Howard English, spokesperson for UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, said his organization is urging Jews to find ways to vote despite the conflict with Sukkot.

“We will heavily publicize the many ways in which Jewish community members can vote for the candidate of their choice,” he wrote in an e-mail to The CJN just prior to the election call.

“Not only are advance polls an option, but it is possible to vote during a federal election campaign, on any day, at an Elections Canada office. We will make that clear to our community. Our objective is to encourage community members to exercise their franchise through the many options available.”

Last week, B’nai Brith Canada said that it, too, had been in “ongoing” discussions with the prime minister and called the Sukkot election date “regrettable yet understandable,” declaring that all parties and candidates should make the security of its citizens a “top issue” in the election campaign.

B’nai Brith issued the statement after a security scare involving El Al in Toronto on Sept. 3. (See related story)

“In recent months, Israel’s security establishment has repeatedly warned that North American Jewish communities are particularly vulnerable to potential terrorist threats, notably by Hezbollah – a terrorist group with a known presence in this country,” said Frank Dimant, executive vice-president of B’nai Brith Canada.

Last Friday, the Conservatives addressed this issue by pledging more money to the Jewish community via the government’s $3-million Security Infrastructure Program.

Launched in July 2007 to help ethnic communities at risk of hate crimes beef up security at their places of worship, schools and other areas, the announcement promised another $392,735 to Toronto-area Jewish organizations in its second round of funding, including $100,000 to Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto Congregation, $39,595 to Bialik Hebrew Day School of Toronto, $62,183 to B’nai Brith Canada, $95,000 to UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, $16,977 to Chabad at Flamingo in Thornhill and a combined $53,280 to two Eitz Chaim School campuses in Toronto.

Six Montreal Jewish community organizations also received more than $144,000 to help defray their security costs: Federation CJA for its Cummings House headquarters ($50,535), Congregation Beth Ora in St. Laurent ($27,100), the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in Snowdon ($23,274), Congregation Beth Israel Beth Aaron in Côte St. Luc ($16,466), Beth Zion Congregation, also in Côte St. Luc ($15,568), and the YM-YWHA Jewish Community Centre’s West Island branch in Pierrefonds ($11,540).

CJC applauded the funding announcement, with Farber calling it “a very good beginning,” but cautioning that there was “still much work to be done.”

If the Conservatives are not re-elected, the new government will have to decide whether to continue the security program.

Another organization that will speak to Jewish voters in this campaign will be the Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee (CJPAC).

In the past, the grassroots, non-partisan group – whose mandate is to “engage the community in the political process” – has helped convene candidate debates on both provincial and federal levels and will be fully involved in encouraging Jewish Canadians to vote and participate again this year, said Josh Cooper, CJPAC’s executive director.

Cooper said that while the Sukkot scenario does present a challenge, it’s no reason for Jews to abandon political activism in Canada this election.

“CJPAC is planning to focus on a specific advance voting day for the community. Working with all campaigns in electoral districts with large Jewish constituencies, we want to ensure the community votes in large numbers,” he said. “While the community will be able to ensure our voice is heard at the ballot box, the larger problem exists that many of us will not be able to volunteer on election day. This is also an issue for Jewish candidates. However, members of the community can still volunteer for the candidate of their choice throughout the election period, as well as take a lawn sign.”

One politician not content with the government’s election call is Toronto Liberal Joe Volpe, MP for Eglinton-Lawrence.

In a statement to The CJN, Volpe called the Sukkot election date “disappointing” and “insensitive” and cited Harper’s decision as a “complete lack of judgment and consideration” with regard to Jewish constituents.

A Sept. 7 Ekos poll showed the Conservatives leading in popular support on the eve of the election campaign, citing the national federal vote intention among decided voters as Conservatives with 37 per cent, Liberals 24 per cent, NDP 19 per cent, Green party 10 per cent, and Bloc Québécois six per cent.

The poll also showed the Conservatives having a leadership edge, with Harper seen as “best prime minister” with 32 per cent support, followed by NDP Leader Jack Layton at 19 per cent and Dion a distant third with 12 per cent.

With files from JTA.