This is another weekly 2025 federal election edition of Doorstep Postings, the political column written by Josh Lieblein for The CJN. (Stay tuned for more reporting on hot riding races, and conversations on The CJN Daily podcast with Ellin Bessner.)
What did it for me was the repeated asking of the question, “Is Donald Trump serious?”
Not about the tariffs, not the inconsistent application thereof, not the annexation threats or the rapid about-face from ‘We live in a fake and genocidal country’ to ‘#ElbowsUp!’ It was the failure to accept that all of this was really happening, the result of magical, delusional, terminally optimistic thinking. As if Canada was so beyond reproach that the notion of the Americans actually turning their guns on us could ever actually happen.
BREAKING: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says that if America doesn’t want to lead anymore, Canada will take that role. pic.twitter.com/uo72tjUACC
— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) April 3, 2025
Prime Minister Mark Carney is right about one thing: we are never going back to the way things were. It would be great if he were prepared in the slightest for what comes next, but we can’t have everything, I guess. What is coming next, by the way? Well, the world will be divided into those who fully accept the gravity of the problem, and those who think posting selfies with their elbows out and Buying Canadian will get us back to some form of normalcy and ease. If you’re still shocked or surprised at the latest outrage from the Trump administration, if you’re still triggered by Elon’s latest X emission, if uncertainty makes your tummy hurt—well, it’s nothing personal, but you might want to sit the next little or long while out.
Israel has ZERO tariffs on the US.
— Eylon Levy (@EylonALevy) April 3, 2025
The US imposed new tariffs on Israel.
That isn’t “reciprocal.” It’s unilateral.
It’s no way to treat an ally or build a global ecosystem that supports America.
There is a lot of talk about how Carney is the better choice to deal with Trump, which is as much of a fundamental misunderstanding of the situation as anything we’ve heard in the last six months. Saying Mark Carney is qualified to deal with Trump is the same thing as saying that Mark Carney is qualified to lasso a tornado. Trump calling Carney a “Prime Minister” instead of “Governor” is no cause for celebration, but you wouldn’t know that from the reaction of the punditocracy.
NEW: President does not derisively refer to Carney as “Governor” like he did Trudeau. A change in tone from the White House. https://t.co/vF1V8i8kFk
— Robert Benzie (@robertbenzie) March 28, 2025
I’m not sure that Pierre Poilievre is, was, or ever will be the guy to handle Trump either, but a little humility would be appropriate in a situation like this. It would indicate at least a modicum of thought about just how screwed we are as a country and how little margin for error there is. However if the ballot question was “Who has the higher opinion of himself, Carney or Poilievre?,” then we wouldn’t be talking about whether the Conservatives can pivot to win it like we are for the actual election, because Carney has Poilievre dead to rights on that one.
Roman Baber #cdnpoli election campaign billboard that goes right for the throat! Wow!
— Dan Levy ✡ דניאל לוי (@TheDanLevy) April 2, 2025
Spotted in York Centre, North York, Toronto along Sheppard Ave West by yours truly this morning.#elxn45 #ItsOurVote pic.twitter.com/QcbSj3cJtn
If you’re expecting normalcy anywhere, even in our relatively safe community where more Jewish Torontonians are concerned about a rumour that United Bakers is closing (probably not in your lifetime) than this election, then prepare to be disappointed. After months of antics at the corner of Bathurst and Sheppard, where competing rallies tally up who can trigger the other side more effectively, the organizers of the weekly pro-Israel gathering are at a breaking point. It seems that one of the organizers of the Conservative-friendly affair broke a cardinal rule by voluntarily smiling for a picture with that living excommunicado, York Centre MP Ya’ara Saks, who is surely never going to live down her somewhat more infamous snapshot—the one with former Palestinian Authority leader and Holocaust denier Mahmoud Abbas.
Sign of the times re: desperation? York Centre Liberal MP Ya’ara Saks or one of her minions shrouded a Conservative sign with 4 Liberal signs! Beyond petty. And it appears Canada’s #1 self-hating Jew might’ve violated a bylaw in doing so… but never mind. https://t.co/EzOOCPFDt5
— David Menzies (@TheMenzoid) April 1, 2025
I reiterate what I said when this photo originally hit: singling out Saks for doing what Liberals do and blindly following the leader is yet another exercise in point-missing. It’s long since been forgotten that there was a third person in the photo, foreign affairs minister Mélanie Joly—and nobody’s buying billboards in her riding of Ahuntsic-Cartierville. Defeating one but allowing the other to keep her seat doesn’t fix the palling around with Abbas problem any more than Mark Carney posing in a hockey net will fix the Trump problem. But it’s well-known that the rallies have long since ceased to be anything other than exercises in clout-building, which is the only reason why any organizer felt the need to post a selfie with an MP in the first place!
OnlyFans porn model @jessicawetz6 appears alongside @theJagmeetSingh in a keffiyeh donning video to talk about how they want to throttle & prevent Israel from winning their war & rescuing their hostages.
— Leviathan (@l3v1at4an) April 2, 2025
It seems the @NDP has resorted to porn stars for social media campaigning. pic.twitter.com/iQ7aHdp8kQ
In some ways I’m grateful to not have to spend yet another writ period writing about marginal NDP nutters complaining they’re being censored for leaping over the line when it comes to Just Criticizing Israel (even if they are keffiyeh-wearing users of OnlyFans). As if they didn’t understand that their views will never receive more exposure than when they’re being booted from the party. You can get exercised about midtown Toronto Liberals sporting yellow-ribbon pins—most conspicuously worn by Leslie Church in her St. Paul’s rematch following a byelection defeat—whether the Conservatives are pandering too excessively, or whether an 18-year-old Avi Lewis protégé running for the NDP in B.C. has a prayer of enough votes to get his deposit back. But if you’re ignoring how the old-as-Confederation consensus in the Jewish community around non-partisanship and working with anyone who has “our interests” at heart, you’re missing the top story by a longshot.
The Jewish community in Toronto–St. Paul’s has faced immense pain and fear since October 7th, with a rise in antisemitism at home. It’s unacceptable.
— Leslie Church 🇨🇦 (@lesliechurch) April 1, 2025
As your MP, I’ll fight to ensure families feel safe, confront hatred, and protect schools, community centres, and synagogues. pic.twitter.com/qCCSGUvY2Z
And maybe, just like the Carney campaign, this represents the last gasp of a Canada, of a Jewish community, that is unrecognizable to anyone younger than my own four decades. We’re not America’s little bro any longer. We can’t coast on memories of Mr. Dressup or reminiscences of the Canadian Jewish Congress. A Liberal government going for a fifth consecutive term, should that end up being this country’s fate in another year or four, is not going to be able to go back to this well of fuzzy nostalgia. They’re literally burning it to convince voters that Mark Carney is the man. Let it guide your vote in the booth if it must, but after that it really will be time to “meet the moment.” If you cannot, then what comes afterwards is going to be a lot worse than some easily dismissed online drama about who got their picture taken with whom.
Josh Lieblein can be reached at [email protected] for your response to Doorstep Postings.
