Clearly, our positions on everything from social justice to the economy are radically different. Nonetheless, I quite like and respect conservative commentator Michael Taube. I’ve always found that he presents his arguments with passion and consistency.

Imagine, then, my surprise upon reading his most recent CJN column (“The first Jewish-Liberal-Conservative,” Nov. 6) in which he postulates the rather fantastical theory that Jews have been moving into the political Conservative fold gradually, as opposed to in what most pundits have agreed has been a major and sudden shift of allegiance.

Pointing to what he calls “tiresome left-wing fulminations” to the contrary (though I’d hardly refer to Liberals as “left wing”), Taube insists that Canadian Jews have basically seen the light, and the fact Prime Minister Stephen Harper is the best prime minister Israel never had is beside the point.

Taube insists that today, Jewish voters believe in what the Conservative party has to offer, and the fact that it is, like all the mainstream political parties, such a strong supporter of Israel is just a bonus. 

Interestingly, as an exclamation mark at the end of this thought, Taube reaches back – way back – to 1873 and tells us the story of Henry Nathan, Canada’s first “Jewish Liberal-Conservative” MP. He explained that even though Nathan was a Liberal, he actually voted and acted as a Conservative, since at the time, B.C. politicians like Nathan were aligned with Tory prime minister John A. Macdonald. This, he contends, is proof of the longstanding affinity Canadian Jews have had with the Conservative party. 

Truth be told, for better or worse, Canadian Jews have always felt more comfortable as centrists within the Canadian polity. Over the last 100 years or more, it was usually very much the exception to the rule to find Jews active in politics on either the right or the left. Yes, while we did see folks such as J.B. Salsberg and David Lewis holding up the one-time powerful Jewish left, or on the other side, the likes of Allan Grossman and Hugh Segal as staunch Tories, Canadian Jews were more often represented by Liberals such as former solicitor general Robert Kaplan, former justice minister Irwin Cotler, or Herb Gray, the only Canadian Jew ever to be appointed deputy prime minister.

I believe it’s safe to speculate that it’s a more recent phenomenon that Canadian Jews have supported someone they’ve perceived as a leader who is a strong and vocal supporter of Israel. And Harper has grabbed the Jewish political baton with gusto. Yet, he was, I hasten to add, aided by some provocative, unwise and inept statements by former Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, who during Israel’s 2006 war with Hezbollah claimed that Israel had committed war crimes. 

No amount of back-pedalling helped. Any fair analysis will show that this was the beginning of the end for Jewish support of the Liberal party. Traditional Toronto Jewish ridings quickly began leaning toward the Tories, and by 2011, what were once strong Liberal ridings in significant Jewish areas were lost to Harper.

Indeed, even when I ran in the riding of Thornhill in the 2011 Ontario election, too many Jews told there me that while they liked me, they would be voting for Harper. It didn’t matter when I told them that this was a provincial not a federal vote. Harper’s stand on Israel was their focus. 

Much has changed in the last four years. Today, the federal Liberals are headed by Justin Trudeau, a popular and strong supporter of Israel. Jewish Liberals are coming out of the political closet, no longer afraid to identify their political affiliation. Today, well-known Jewish Liberals such as Michael Levitt and Gary Gladstone are proudly running to be the Liberal candidates in the GTA.

With a federal election now less than a year away, I believe my friend Michael Taube may be in for a rude awakening.