As Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau prepares to step down amid widespread voter dissatisfaction with his leadership, Jewish leaders who felt increasingly alienated by his government’s approach to Israel and handling of antisemitism say they are not particularly optimistic his Liberal Party can muster any meaningful course correction on key issues in the immediate future.

Trudeau said on Monday that he will resign after his party elects a new leader in the coming months. His announcement, which was widely expected, came amid growing backlash over his immigration and climate policies as well as economic discontent fueled by inflation. He has also drawn criticism for what many Jewish leaders viewed as a hostile turn against Israel in its war with Hamas and a failure to address a startling rise in recent antisemitic attacks at day schools and synagogues, among other Jewish institutions.

During most of his nine years as prime minister, Trudeau had largely been seen as an ally to the Jewish community and a supporter of Israel, according to Jewish leaders. But in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks, his party embraced a more adversarial position toward Israel, angering Jewish activists who took issue with the country’s decision last year to suspend arms exports to Israel as well as Trudeau’s vow to uphold arrest warrants issued by  the International Criminal Court targeting Israeli leaders.

Meanwhile, Jewish Canadians on heightened alert amid a surge in antisemitic activity sparked in part by Israel’s ongoing war have also felt abandoned by Trudeau’s response to such incidents, regarding his condemnations as equivocal and performative at a moment of increased anxiety about hate crimes.

“Canadians lost faith in Trudeau because he has repeatedly failed to stand up for our values,” Michael Westcott, the CEO of Allies for a Strong Canada, a newly created advocacy group dedicated to combating antisemitism, told Jewish Insider. “The candidates who seek to replace him must learn from his mistakes and stand up for Canadian values and against the hate that is filling our streets and neighbourhoods.”

While no candidates have yet stepped forward to confirm if they will run to replace Trudeau as the Liberal Party’s next leader, who will also take over as prime minister, several names have been floated — including Mélanie Joly, the minister of foreign affairs, and Chrystia Freeland, the former deputy prime minister and finance minister who abruptly resigned last month amid tensions with Trudeau concerning President-elect Donald Trump’s return to office.

“The vast majority of Jews in Canada are fed up with the Liberal Party right now,” Steve Wernick, a senior rabbi at Toronto’s Beth Tzedec Congregation who has led the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, said in an interview with JI on Tuesday. “The reason Trudeau had to resign was the Liberal Party itself and the country in general. There were a lot of promises and not a lot of follow through. People are tired of that and looking for a change.”

The race, which has not yet been scheduled, could also draw candidates from outside Parliament such as Mark Carney, who previously served as governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England and has said he is “considering” a leadership bid, among others.

But the current field of possible contenders has not inspired much confidence among Canadian Jewish leaders across the ideological spectrum who say the party’s reputation has been badly damaged because of its lackluster positions on Israel and antisemitism in recent months. 

“The vast majority of Jews in Canada are fed up with the Liberal Party right now,” Steve Wernick, a senior rabbi at Toronto’s Beth Tzedec Congregation who has led the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, said in an interview with JI on Tuesday. “The reason Trudeau had to resign was the Liberal Party itself and the country in general. There were a lot of promises and not a lot of follow through. People are tired of that and looking for a change.”

Joe Roberts, a veteran political strategist and former board chair of JSpaceCanada, described the race to replace Trudeau as “a critical moment for the Liberal Party to return to its roots — standing firmly with Jewish Canadians and supporting our democratic ally, Israel.”

“Anything less would be a betrayal of the party’s core values and Canada’s moral responsibilities,” Roberts told JI on Wednesday.

A pro-Israel activist in Toronto, who asked to remain anonymous to speak candidly, said it was “unlikely” any candidates from Trudeau’s Cabinet “will be palatable” to Jewish voters — citing their votes in the House of Commons last March to pass a nonbinding motion calling for a cessation of arms to Israel, among other controversial measures.

“I’m sure most Jewish Liberals will be looking for a candidate who returns the party to its pro-Israel days,” the activist said, speculating that Carney and Christy Clark, a former premier of British Columbia who is also a potential candidate, will likely be seen more positively in the Jewish community.

On the other hand, Freeland and Anita Anand, the minister of transport and another possible rival for the leadership, “would maintain the status quo but try to reach out,” the activist added. 

Joly, who announced last September that she had suspended around 30 permits for arms shipments to Israel, has raised concerns among Jewish leaders over her criticism of Israel amid its war with Hamas in Gaza.

“No doubt there are some people considering seeking to replace Trudeau who disagreed with his government’s lack of leadership as antisemitic hatred has taken over Canadian streets,” Westcott, the Allies CEO, told JI on Wednesday. “But equally there are others who would say and do even worse to curry favor.” 

“I would say over the last months his record has indeed been very poor on Israel and wanting on the antisemitism front by not showing the appropriate leadership and prioritization,” Anthony Housefather, a Liberal member of Parliament in Montreal who has spoken out against his party’s approach to Israel, said of Trudeau in an email to JI on Tuesday, “but on antisemitism and Israel his record was very good between 2015 and 2023 and on antisemitism he is also getting blamed for things in other jurisdictions.”

The next Liberal Party head is expected to face off against the Conservative opposition leader, Pierre Poilievre, a populist who has positioned himself as a staunch defender of Israel and blamed Liberals for rising antisemitism. Polling has shown his party is dominating the Liberals ahead of a federal election that could take place as early as this spring and no later than October.

Anthony Housefather, a Liberal member of Parliament in Montreal who has spoken out against his party’s approach to Israel, argued that Trudeau has been unfairly held responsible for some issues that are out of his federal jurisdiction — even as he also said that the Canadian government “has failed on antisemitism” over the past year.

“I would say over the last months his record has indeed been very poor on Israel and wanting on the antisemitism front by not showing the appropriate leadership and prioritization,” Housefather, who is Jewish, said of Trudeau in an email to JI on Tuesday, “but on antisemitism and Israel his record was very good between 2015 and 2023 and on antisemitism he is also getting blamed for things in other jurisdictions.”

Noah Shack, the interim president of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, the nonpartisan advocacy arm of the Jewish Federations of Canada, said in a statement to JI that the election is “an opportunity for urgently needed policy change” on renewing ties to Israel and adopting “concrete actions to combat the rise of antisemitism, extremist protests on our streets and campuses and attacks against Jewish institutions.”

But other Jewish elected officials feel less charitable toward Trudeau and his possible replacement as the party seeks to improve its sagging approval ratings. Jeremy Levi, the Conservative mayor of Hampstead, a suburb of Montreal, said that Trudeau’s successor “will carry the same flawed agenda — or worse.”

“Their stance on Israel and their tolerance for antisemitism are not anomalies but embedded features of their political ethos,” Levi claimed to JI on Wednesday. “Expect no change in their policies, no meaningful acknowledgment of the Jewish community’s concerns, and no respect for Israel’s sovereignty. If anything, their positions will likely embolden those who wish to erode the values we hold dear.”

The organized Jewish community has indicated it will engage in the electoral process as Canada heads for another election.

Noah Shack, the interim president of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, the nonpartisan advocacy arm of the Jewish Federations of Canada, said in a statement to JI that the election is “an opportunity for urgently needed policy change” on renewing ties to Israel and adopting “concrete actions to combat the rise of antisemitism, extremist protests on our streets and campuses and attacks against Jewish institutions.”

“This is a moment to be vocal and assertive in demanding policy change to protect our community and the values and well-being of all Canadians,” he added.

Richard Robertson, the director of research and advocacy for B’nai Brith Canada, called on “all parties involved to approach this moment with a sense of urgency, responsibility and commitment to the public good,” noting “the stakes are too high for anything less.”

Predicting that the Liberals will be “decimated” in the coming election, Wernick, the senior rabbi in Toronto, said he believed an eventual defeat could represent a chance for “party leadership to arise that will bring it back to kitchen-table politics and issues and, hopefully, take a more centrist, left-of-center perspective of the challenges that Canada faces.”

“That’s what I think is needed here,” Wernick told JI. “If the polls are correct, the Liberal Party is going to have a few years to try to recalibrate itself and see if a leadership can arise that will do that.”