Mezuzahs and sneakers: What two Jewish MPs are bringing on their first day in Parliament

Melissa Lantsman, left, and Ya'ara Saks, seated in the right-hand image, during their swearing-in ceremonies for the 44th Canadian Parliament. (Photos courtesy Lantsman's and Saks's Facebook pages)

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Canada’s 44th Parliament is set to resume Monday at 1 p.m. In it are eight Jewish MPs, including two relatively new faces—Ya’ara Saks, the Liberal representative for York Centre, elected in a 2020 byelection; and Melissa Lantsman, the rookie Conservative just elected by the voters of Thornhill.

Both will be sitting for the first time in the House of Commons—Saks has only Zoomed into meetings so far—and, while they sit on opposite ends of the aisle, both women are proudly Jewish, with similar plans for tackling antisemitism, addressing the nation’s high cost of living and hanging a mezuzah on their office doors.

Saks and Lantsman join to give us an insight at what’s going to happen Monday afternoon, where they disagree and where they share common goals.

What we talked about:

Visit Ya’ara Saks’ website at yaarasaks.liberal.ca
Visit Melissa Lantsman’s website at melissalantsman.ca
Learn about the flood relief plan by the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver at jewishvancouver.com/bcflood

Credits

The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.