What's at stake in this month's votes in Ontario, Quebec, B.C. and the Prairies? The CJN's Political Panel weighs in

It’s hard to remember when Canadians have had so many elections in such a short span. In three weeks this October, there will have been seven—including municipal and provincial votes, plus the referendum in Alberta.

Albertans voted “No” on Monday, Oct. 19, to consider a Brexit-style split from Canada, while on Oct. 5, Quebecers elected a separatist government, with only 28 per cent of the popular vote.

Meanwhile, in B.C., they’ve just finished a municipal election that saw Vancouver city hall sweep left and include a majority of politicians who signed anti-Israel pledges. In Toronto, the race for mayor comes into the final stretch this weekend before the municipal election on Monday, Oct. 26, where Jewish community safety and the front-runners’ stances on antisemitism and Israel are in focus.

Manitobans also hold municipal elections this coming week, while voters go back to the polls this weekend in British Columbia in a snap provincial election that is seeing NDP Premier David Eby’s treatment of a Jewish cabinet minister in 2024 come back to haunt him.

Now that same former NDP cabinet minister, Selina Robinson, joins The CJN’s political panellists Dan Mader, a Conservative strategist with Loyalist Public Relations, and David Birnbaum, a former Quebec Liberal MNA, to talk immigration, separation, and why Israel-Palestine is being seen in some races as more important than filling potholes and fixing homelessness.

Related links

• The Toronto Jewish community focuses on who will be the new mayor, in The CJN.
• Vancouver’s new city hall is decidedly anti-Israel, and the school board, too, in The CJN
• Ahead of the Alberta referendum, Jewish Albertans were divided, in The CJN.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner )
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzie Helenchilde (producer and video editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director)
• Music: Bret Higgins

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