Conservatives appeal to Jewish community ahead of by-election

The federal Conservatives are asking Toronto St. Paul's Jewish community for their vote and a letter recently received by several Jewish households. The letter accuses Justin Trudeau of betraying the Jewish community, a community with a large enough population in this riding to sway the vote. Well, it's 15% of the population in the writing of Saint Paul's as opposed to only 4% which is Muslim, a letter obtained by City News signed by Conservative MP Melissa Lanceman reads. In part, Jew hatred is out of control across Canada and by voting Conservative, you can send Justin Trudeau a message about his betrayal of our Jewish community. My message is there should be no safe Liberal seats until the Jewish community feels safe. Andrew Kirsch is with Jewish Ally, a registered third party that advertises for the Conservatives. And it doesn't have to be a right left center issue. Support for Canadian Jewish community should be higher on the government agenda. Darrell Bricker with IPSO says by elections are usually low turn out. So the parties know that every vote counts and the people who are most motivated will be the most likely to to show up. So they're trying to to motivate a very specific group of the electorate. Did you receive a letter from the federal Conservatives asking you to vote Conservative in this by election? No, I did not. No, I didn't receive anything. Lanceman's office did not respond to questions about whether the letter was targeted to Jewish voters or sent out more widely. The Liberal Party tells City News, in part its local by election campaign has received a number of calls from Jewish constituents across the political spectrum who have felt targeted by the Conservative Party's letter and are concerned that they would politicize such an important issue. The Liberal government has been very clear that the rise in anti-Semitism is very concerning and unacceptable and that it must stop. Financial professional Don Stewart is running for the Conservative seat, nonprofit director Emery Parhar has been nominated by the NDP, while Liberal candidate Leslie Church, the former chief of staff to the federal finance minister, is running to maintain the near 3 decade Liberal legacy in this riding that was held by Carolyn Bennett. Will you still vote Liberal even though she is not running well? I haven't made my mind out. Today is the last day of advanced voting which began on Friday, and Toronto St. Pauls will elect a new MP next Monday, June the 24th near Young and Eglinton. Michelle Mackey. City News.