Tory hopeful Libman confident he can win in Mount Royal

Robert Libman, centre, is surrounded by supporters Moise Moghrabi, left, Steven Slimovitch and, at back, Aaron Remer. JANICE ARNOLD PHOTO

MONTREAL — Robert Libman is hoping his political comeback will be as history-making as his entry into politics a quarter-century ago.

At the official launch of his bid for the Conservative nomination in Mount Royal on Sept. 18, Libman said he’s confident he can wrest the federal riding from the grip the Liberals have had on it for 75 years.

He compared that scenario to the one 25 years ago, when as the 28-year-old leader of the Equality Party, which he co-founded the year before, he captured the provincial Liberal stronghold of D’Arcy McGee. Three other members of the English-rights protest party were also elected that night in September 1989.

Now as then, Libman said, the issue is one of standing up for principles, and no leader today better exemplifies setting aside political expediency for what they believe is morally right than Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

That was proven yet again, Libman told the largely Jewish audience, by Harper’s steadfast support of Israel during this past summer’s conflict with Hamas, “which flew in the face of political convention.”

Libman, who is also a former Côte St. Luc mayor and Montreal executive committee member, is the first person to declare he is seeking the Conservative nomination in the riding.

The outcome of the race for Mount Royal is no longer a foregone conclusion with the widely respected Liberal Irwin Cotler, who has held the seat since 1999, not seeking re-election in the vote to be held sometime next year.

But Libman knows Liberal leader Justin Trudeau will not allow the riding, which his late father Pierre Elliott Trudeau held for almost 20 years, slip into Tory hands without a fight.

The meeting was chaired by Steven Slimovitch, legal counsel to B’nai Brith Canada, and several other local leaders of that organization were present. Libman was B’nai Brith’s Quebec region director in the 1990s.

Speaking on behalf of the Sephardi community was Sidney Benudiz, who was executive director of United Talmud Torahs/Herzliah High School.

Among his key campaign organizers cited by Libman were well-known names in the Jewish community, including Derek Stern, Aaron Remer, Gerry Weinstein, Dr. Robert Shapiro, Darren Becker and Gerry Weiner.

Also present were Rabbi Allan Bright of Shaare Zedek Congregation and Hampstead Mayor William Steinberg.

Rabbi Bright told The CJN he “absolutely” supports Libman and the Conservatives. 

“It’s the first time in my 30-year career that I have made a political [endorsement.] Robert has what it takes,” he said.

“People ask me if I’m going to speak [in the synagogue] about who to vote for, but if the Jews have not got it by now, they never will.”

Steinberg, however, made clear that his presence was not an endorsement of Libman or his party, and that he will remain publicly neutral. 

“I know all of them [including Liberal nomination seekers Anthony Housefather and Jonathan Goldbloom] and can work with everybody.”

The Conservatives have been gaining strength in Mount Royal during Cotler’s time in office. Analyses of Mount Royal poll results in that election indicated that a majority of Jews cast ballots for the Conservatives. About 35 per cent of the population is Jewish.

Among those who plan to switch this time is lawyer Abe Gurman, who said he has always voted Liberal. “It’s a whole new ball game with Irwin Cotler leaving,” he said. “I’m switching first and foremost because of Robert, but I appreciate what Harper stands for and how he governs.”

Libman thinks momentum is on his side.

“I believe Mount Royal voters are ready to turn the tide… but we still have to work for it. Voting habits, especially generational voting habits, are difficult to break,” said Libman, who noted that the riding is highly multicultural today.

No date has been set for the Conservative nomination meeting. Another Jewish community member making a bid for that party’s nomination is Valérie Assouline in Pierrefonds-Dollard, taken by the New Democrats from the Liberals in 2011. 

Assouline, a lawyer and businessperson, ran unsuccessfully for the Coalition Avenir Québec in the provincial election last spring.