Montreal MP Anthony House will remain in the Liberal caucus despite his father's displeasure with the movement

OTTAWA — Montreal MP Anthony Hausfather said Friday he will remain in the Liberal caucus, despite anger over a motion passed by the House of Commons last month.

Since the passage of an NDP-sponsored motion on the Israel-Hamas war on March 18 with significant Liberal amendments, the house father has been pondering his next steps.

“The acceptance of the proposal and all the events that have preceded it have angered me as much as they have angered most Jewish Canadians I have spoken with,” the house father said in a written statement Friday afternoon.

“But I know that my core values ​​remain liberal values, and after serious consideration, I believe that my greatest value to Canadians is to remain in the caucus to defend the centrist classical Liberal Party that I believe in.”

The house father said he had many long conversations with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in recent days discussing what he called “the big problem of anti-Semitism in Canada right now” and what the federal government needs to do to combat it.

“There is no more important issue for the Jewish community at this time,” he said. “This matter needs to be resolved now.”

She said Trudeau asked her to work directly with him to address the problem, including policing, anti-Semitism on university campuses and creating safe zones between demonstrations and public buildings.

Trudeau's office said the prime minister had no comment on the housefather's decision.

The Israel-Hamas war will reach six months on Sunday.

The father, who is Jewish, has been one of the most vocal MPs to speak out against the pro-Palestinian protests, saying demonstrators are threatening Canadian Jews and are responsible for the actions of the Israeli government.

The original motion, tabled by NDP MP Heather McPherson, included a demand for Canada to “formally recognize the state of Palestine,” but did not contextualize it as part of a broader call for a two-state solution.

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The House Father, along with most of Canada's major Jewish organizations, criticized the proposal as one-sided, saying it would reward Hamas for the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war.

The NDP's proposal caused considerable division among government MPs, even as senior Liberals renegotiated its phrasing with the New Democrats behind the scenes.

In the end, the government proposed 14 key amendments and all but three Liberal MPs, including the house father, voted in favour. Conservatives voted against.

The latest move is very close to Canada's Middle East policy. He recognized Palestinian statehood as part of the two-state solution within the Middle East peace process.

It also added language calling on Hamas to lay down its weapons, designated it as a terrorist organization in Canada, and replaced language urging Ottawa to “end all military goods and technology trade” with Israel with a paragraph urging Canada to end its approval. Providing “arms exports” to Israel.

Housefather said the amended proposal was better, but he still couldn't support it, and he expressed concern that there wasn't time to discuss last-minute changes.

He said he wanted the government to reject the NDP's proposal, which he called flawed, and later come up with its own version.

House Dad says he's heard from thousands of people both on and off the ride over the past two weeks, and he knows their concerns about traffic are “widely shared.”

But remaining in the House will allow him to continue to defend the things he was elected to defend, he said, including the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, fiscal prudence, a principled foreign policy and an adequately funded military.

This Canadian Press report was first published on April 5, 2024.

Mia Rabson, Canadian Press