Jon Liedtke joins 610 CKTB’s Gene Valaitis for his regular weekly segment, Liedtke’s Got a Take!
Jon Liedtke criticizes NDP leader Avi Lewis for blaming Canadian Jews for overseas conflicts – in violation of Canada’s anti-racism policies – following a synagogue shooting in Belleville, Ontario. Highlighting an officer’s injury and another plot in Whitby, Liedtke argues Canada’s breakdown in law, political inaction, and rising antisemitism threaten national security and safety for all citizens.
Transcript (Gemini Generated):
Gene Valaitis: Jon Liedtke has a take. Good morning, Jon.
Jon Liedtke: Good morning, Gene.
Gene Valaitis: Well, we’re talking about a number of issues here. I should mention to the good listenership that you are an advocate for the Jewish community. You are Jewish, and you have been doing this for many, many years. Now, we’re talking about the shooting near a synagogue in Belleville, Ontario, in Eastern Ontario. Like most synagogues, there was a police officer there protecting the congregation. Shots rang out. The police officer confronted the gunman. He was shot. In the course of that, the police officer was also shot in the arm. He suffered non-life-threatening wounds. He’s a hero, in fact, and this came right on the eve of Yom Kippur. So, with that in mind, you’ve been extremely critical of federal NDP leader Avi Lewis’s social media post on Yom Kippur. What did he say, and why did you oppose it?
Jon Liedtke: Well, you know, Gene, thanks for having me on. Within an hour of the shotgun rounds piercing the stained glass windows of the Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville, NDP leader Avi Lewis published on X a post telling Canadian Jews that we failed to do our part to stop an overseas conflict committed in our name. I opposed this because it’s morally bankrupt, and it’s flatly against Canada’s official anti-racism policies to collectively hold a group together for the actions of a singular person or a group of people somewhere else on the other side of the world. In 2019, Canada officially adopted the IHRA working definition of antisemitism as federal policy. And so, when a federal political leader lectures Canadian worshippers on our holiest day, holding us collectively accountable for a foreign military, he’s violating our own anti-racism guidelines—I don’t care that he’s Jewish himself—and he’s constructing an ideological permission structure that turns local synagogues into targets. I’m not blaming him for the actions that happened. I think it’s incredibly tone-deaf that he put out that post while there were still congregants I believe sheltered inside or at least trying to figure out what the aftermath of the situation was. It was just—it was—it was disgusting. It was deplorable, and we can talk about what his statement actually had to say, though.
Gene Valaitis: Yeah. Well, Lewis’s statement came within an hour of the shooting at the synagogue in Belleville, the one you were talking about. However, every major political leader—the Prime Minister, Premier Ford, NDP leader Marit Stiles—issued swift statements condemning the shooting and antisemitism, except for Lewis, who took 19 hours to respond. Why do you think it took him so long?
Jon Liedtke: I think it took so long—it took 19 hours—because their team was in crisis management, realizing that they had been caught stoking the very hatred that can lead to real-world bullets in our communities. But when he finally did post at 2:13 p.m. the following day, think about that, how long it took, 19 hours roughly—I mean, it’s just—it’s insane—he made things worse. First, he completely erased Constable Jeff Smith, who is still in hospital right now after taking that shotgun blast. He didn’t mention him whatsoever. He didn’t name him. He didn’t thank law enforcement. He didn’t wish him a recovery. Second, he pulled an “All Lives Matter” pivot, diluting a targeted antisemitic attack on Yom Kippur into a generic lecture about the safety for people of all faiths. And third, while he put out that sanitized PR statement, his original post holding Canadian Jews collectively guilty for the actions of Israel still remained live on his feed, and it still does.
Gene Valaitis: Mm. Now, looking at the federal government’s response, including Minister Mark Miller’s basically “our thoughts and prayers are with you” message, and the new Advisory Council on Rights, Equality, and Inclusion, and their lack of communication, I’m probably guessing you’re not that satisfied.
Jon Liedtke: Not in the slightest. Unfortunately for NDP leader Avi Lewis, there’s a lot of blame that goes around here, as we can talk about from the government side. Thoughts and prayers from cabinet ministers are meaningless when government policy is actively failing, Gene. The federal government dissolved dedicated, accountable anti-hate envoys and replaced them with a diluted Advisory Council on Rights, Equality, and Inclusion. And it’s been around for what, over a year now? And I haven’t seen them do anything. I haven’t seen them even put out really meaningful statements. It’s pure window dressing and PR. When you replace, you know, actionable, clear policy with broad advisory committees, you get zero deterrence. And so, while Ottawa is sitting around and issuing polite statements, synagogues are literally being shot up. Businesses—Jewish businesses—have been burned over the past three years. And right now, police officers are taking bullets in the line of duty. It is useless bureaucratic cover for their own inaction.
Gene Valaitis: Yeah. Well, not only did that happen in Belleville, and that was shocking to wake up to on Monday morning, news broke yesterday that Durham Regional Police arrested a 19-year-old in Whitby for threatening to shoot up synagogues. And how does that fit into what you describe as a broader systemic escalation since October 7th?
Jon Liedtke: You know, this proves, Gene, that Belleville wasn’t a crazy, isolated incident. Durham Police arrested a 19-year-old because he was actively planning on social media, talking about it, to shoot up a synagogue the exact same High Holy Day weekend for Jews, this just past weekend. For three years since October the 7th, Canadian Jews—globally, Jews—have been screaming that the early warning signs are being ignored. It started with rallies in our streets, then we saw firebombings at businesses, at community centers, at synagogues, then there were shootings at schools at nighttime, then there were assaults at grocery stores, a stabbing at a kosher grocery store, and now we have seen a shooting near, at a synagogue on the holiest day while congregants were inside. Because politicians treated those early violent escalations with polite hand-waving, extremists have become emboldened. We now have province-wide threat environments where radicalized people feel entirely justified grabbing a shotgun or posting online plots to slaughter Jewish worshippers. This is Canada.
Gene Valaitis: Yeah. Now, you and many Jews have repeatedly challenged the common political refrain: “This isn’t who we are in Canada.” It sure looks to me, and I’m not Jewish, that this currently is who we are or who we have become.
Jon Liedtke: This—this is who we are. A country is defined by what it tolerates, not by the lazy slogans politicians repeat. So when 20 to 30 shotgun rounds are fired outside a house of worship, when stained glass windows get riddled with bullet holes, when a hero police officer had to go into the hospital due to taking shots in the line of duty to save congregants, and when mobs gather, and as we just saw on social media—I didn’t mention this to you—outside the Toronto Arts Centre shouting profanities and horrible things just at Jewish families trying to pray on the holiest day of the year, you can no longer pretend that this is an anomaly. This is Canada. Right now, under our current political leadership and rhetoric, this is exactly what Canada has allowed itself to become. And until political leaders stop hiding behind slogans and start treating anti-Jewish hate as an active national security crisis, those bullet holes in Belleville won’t be the last. And first they come for the Saturday people, next they come for the Sunday people.
Gene Valaitis: Ooh. Why should the average non-Jewish Canadian care about this?
Jon Liedtke: I think the everyday non-Jewish Canadian should care about this because targeted extremist violence never stays contained to one group. And the rule of law in Canada, Gene, is actively breaking down. I mean, look at what happened in Belleville. We saw almost 20 to 30 rounds fired in a residential neighborhood outside of a house of worship, stray shotgun blasts actually striking homes and parked cars. More importantly, a 13-year veteran of the police force is sitting in the hospital still because of taking that blast to protect Canadian worshippers. If police officers are taking bullets in the line of duty just to defend houses of worship, no neighborhood in this country is safe. If the basic Canadian guarantee of freedom of worship can be shattered while leaders look the other way or issue meaningless platitudes, the social contract is broken for every Canadian. So today it’s a synagogue, tomorrow it’s any community or any institution that an extremist decides to target in this country.
Gene Valaitis: Excellent take today.
Jon Liedtke: Thank you, Gene.
Gene Valaitis: Jon Liedtke! Liedtke’s got a take. He’s back with us later in the week.
This aired on 610 CKTB
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