{"id":50026,"date":"2015-05-21T20:09:54","date_gmt":"2015-05-21T12:09:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=50026"},"modified":"2025-01-17T01:25:10","modified_gmt":"2025-01-17T06:25:10","slug":"harper-returns-to-quebec-to-be-feted-by-influential-montreal-jewish-council","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2015\/05\/21\/harper-returns-to-quebec-to-be-feted-by-influential-montreal-jewish-council\/","title":{"rendered":"Harper returns to Quebec to be feted by influential Montreal Jewish council"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_31173\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-31173\" style=\"width: 796px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Stephen-Harper-e1415550107453.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-31173\" src=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Stephen-Harper-e1415550107453.jpg\" alt=\"PM Stephen Harper (Facebook photo)\" width=\"796\" height=\"645\" srcset=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Stephen-Harper-e1415550107453.jpg 796w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Stephen-Harper-e1415550107453-300x243.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 796px) 100vw, 796px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-31173\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">PM Stephen Harper (Facebook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>OTTAWA &#8212; Prime Minister Stephen Harper returns today to Quebec, a province where his party hopes to make major gains in this fall&#8217;s election.<\/p>\n<p>And he&#8217;s being honoured by a community which holds considerable sway over whether those gains will include a seat in Montreal.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position:absolute;left:-99195px;\"> buy erythromycin online <a href=\"https:\/\/newleafcounselinggroup.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/png\/erythromycin.html\">https:\/\/newleafcounselinggroup.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/png\/erythromycin.html<\/a> no prescription pharmacy <\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>The riding of Mount Royal is up for grabs this fall with Liberal MP Irwin Cotler stepping down.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position:absolute;left:-99195px;\"> buy aurogra online <a href=\"https:\/\/newleafcounselinggroup.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/png\/aurogra.html\">https:\/\/newleafcounselinggroup.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/png\/aurogra.html<\/a> no prescription pharmacy <\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>About 30 per cent of the riding identified as Jewish in the last census &#8212; making the electoral district one of only a handful in the country where that community can swing an election if it votes en masse.<\/p>\n<p>The Liberals have held the seat since 1940, but Montreal&#8217;s influential Jewish Community Council appears set to give its stamp of approval to Harper.<\/p>\n<p>The council is a religious organization, primarily concerned with certifying whether products are kosher and on Thursday&#8217;s evening it will give the prime minister its King David Award.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The King David Award is presented to an individual who is a light unto the world,&#8221; reads a description of the honour on the event&#8217;s Facebook page.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;One whose courage, strength, intelligence and faithfulness are examples and inspirations for us all.\u00a0This year&#8217;s honouree has gone over and above the call of duty in every one of those attributes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Harper&#8217;s vocal support for Israel has drawn consistent praise from many segments of the Jewish community, who traditionally voted for the Liberals.<\/p>\n<p>Nowhere is that shift clearer than in Montreal.<\/p>\n<p>The Conservatives last won Mount Royal in 1935 and it was Pierre Trudeau&#8217;s seat for almost 20 years. In 2011, Cotler won with 41 per cent of the vote; three years earlier, he took 55 per cent.<\/p>\n<p>While the Conservatives have their eye on this seat, they see more room for growth in other regions of Quebec, specifically around the capital and farther north.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position:absolute;left:-99195px;\"> buy lipitor online <a href=\"https:\/\/newleafcounselinggroup.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/png\/lipitor.html\">https:\/\/newleafcounselinggroup.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/png\/lipitor.html<\/a> no prescription pharmacy <\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>Currently, there are only five Conservative MPs from Quebec and one isn&#8217;t running again. International Development Minister Christian Paradis announced earlier this year he won&#8217;t stand for re-election.<\/p>\n<p>But rather than take that as a hit, Conservatives say they actually see it as an opportunity to bring another new voice to their slate of candidates in order to breathe new life into their political fortunes.<\/p>\n<p>That roster to date now includes popular municipal and provincial politicians and the former head of Quebec City&#8217;s iconic winter carnival, all joining the team as polls suggest support for the Conservatives in Quebec is on the upswing.<\/p>\n<p>The party attributes the gains to the messaging on the economy and national security &#8212; and the latter will be the theme of Harper&#8217;s other stop in the province Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>He&#8217;s scheduled to make an announcement at the Montreal airport alongside Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney and Infrastructure Minister Denis Lebel, the prime minister&#8217;s Quebec lieutenant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>OTTAWA &#8212; Prime Minister Stephen Harper returns today to Quebec, a province where his party hopes to make major gains &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":31173,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,483],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-politics","mauthors-stephanie-levitz","mauthors-the-canadian-press1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50026"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":284787,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50026\/revisions\/284787"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}