At the Canadian Shaare Zedek Hospital Foundation (CSZHF) event on Sept. 7, which marked the foundation’s 50th anniversary: left to right, Col. Ilan Or, Israeli defence attaché to Canada; Rafi Yablonsky, CSZHF national director; Dr. Marla Gordon, CSZHF Western region board member; Dr. Arthur Dodek, CSZHF Western region board member; former prime minister Stephen Harper; Dr. Robert Krell, 2025 Western Region recipient of the Kurt and Edith Rothschild Humanitarian Award; Rabbi Andrew Rosenblatt of Schara Tzedeck Synagogue; Ilan Pilo, CSZHF Western Canada director; and Sam Sapera, CSZHF board chair. (photo by Alina Ilyasova)
Former prime minister Stephen Harper was on friendly ground when he addressed a packed sanctuary at Congregation Schara Tzedeck earlier this month. The former Conservative leader, who led the country from 2006 to 2015, is known as a stalwart ally of Israel and the audience of mostly Jewish Vancouverites welcomed him heartily.
The Sept. 7 event was the first fundraising gala for the newly formed Western region of the Canadian Shaare Zedek Hospital Foundation. The event and the surrounding campaign succeeded in funding nine incubators for the hospital’s pediatric department.
The event featured Harper in conversation with former BC premier Gordon Campbell, who told the audience that, of the prime ministers he served with concurrently when he was premier from 2001 to 2011, Harper was his favourite.
Harper said people ask him why he supports Israel so strongly.
“Has it got to do with religion or your view of the Jewish community?” he asked rhetorically. “I mean, there are a million reasons, but, as prime minister of Canada, the reasons were really simple. Here is this one country in the Middle East that shares our values and that is a friend of this country – and the people who are the enemies of that country are enemies of this country.”
Harper told the audience that there are a lot of loud voices condemning Israel and threatening Jewish Canadians, but, he said, they are not unanimous. “There are still a lot of people in this country that understand the value of our Jewish community, that are friends of the state of Israel, and that thank you for everything you do,” he said.
Harper lauded Israel for its actions to set back Iran’s nuclear program, arguing that the brief Israel-Iran conflict has positively realigned the region. People had warned that Israel’s attack on Iran’s nuclear capability was a dangerous escalation that could “lead to World War Three,” he said.
“We know that not only was [the nuclear program] set back considerably, but the United States and Israel sent a real message that, if we see it again, we’re going to do the same thing again.”
The results of the Israeli actions were overwhelmingly positive, Harper said. There was a very limited Iranian response – and, notably, no other nations coming to Iran’s aid, he said.
There were broader repercussions around Israel’s action against Iran and in the larger regional conflict, he added. Hezbollah was decapitated and the Lebanese government is now trying to push Hezbollah out. Hezbollah’s allies in Syria lost power. Hamas is massively degraded.
Campbell expressed dismay at Prime Minister Mark Carney’s statement that Canada would recognize Palestinian statehood at the United Nations if the Palestinians meet a number of conditions.
“My problem with that … the Palestinian Authority has never done one of the things that the prime minister said,” Campbell said.
“I’m trying to give the new government a chance,” Harper replied, calling the Carney government a “kind of improvement” on the previous administration. “The only interpretation you can put on it is in fact rewarding the events of Oct. 7th.”
Harper said he cannot recall any precedent for Canada, or any other country, recognizing a state that does not exist.
“But, on top of that,” he said, “Who exactly are you? … There is no leadership among the Palestinian populations, including the [Palestinian Authority], that actually unequivocally recognizes the right of a Jewish state to exist. It’s great to say, ‘I favour theoretically a two-state solution,’ but the problem is this other state would be a state that does not support a two-state solution. You’d actually be moving further away from that objective.”
While Israel’s military actions have improved the geopolitical situation in the Middle East, Harper acknowledged there has been a concurrent spike in antisemitism in Canada.
“I really feel a lot of sympathy for ordinary Jewish people who face this in their private [and] professional lives and feel intimidated,” he said. “I guess that the only advice I can give you is to be resolute.… You can’t let those occasions slip. You can’t let them go by.”
Harper said he has been accused of dismissing criticism of Israel as antisemitic, an assertion he rejects.
“Being opposed to policy of the government of Israel is not antisemitic,” he said. “But being opposed to Israel because it is the only Jewish state in the world is the definition of antisemitism.”
Harper spoke, as he has previously to Jewish audiences, of his father, Joseph, who came of age during the Second World War, when the world was existentially threatened by fascism.
“One of the consequences of that is he grew up just as a very determined opponent of antisemitism in a period – we’re talking the ’40s, ’50s – where some of these things were expressed openly. He was very vocal in opposing that. And, frankly, he is just turning over in his grave watching some of what is happening today.”
Despite almost a decade out of office, the former Conservative prime minister did not shy away from politics, crediting the Liberal party with running an excellent campaign earlier this year and identifying shortcomings in the Conservative party’s approach.
Harper cited Donald Trump’s intervention in the campaign as a factor and anxieties around the Canada-US relationship for upending conventional wisdom, including polls that had predicted a Conservative landslide before former prime minister Justin Trudeau resigned.
“I do think the [Conservative] party has to take a hard look at what went right and what went wrong,” said Harper. “The Liberals displayed incredible tactical flexibility, and we did not show the same level of flexibility.”
Of the Conservatives, he said: “We ran a very principled campaign, but we need to show a lot more adaptability when circumstances change.”
Harper and Campbell also addressed economic issues. The former prime minister said the challenges presented by the current American administration are a chance to diversify Canada’s trade relationships.
“If we have an opportunity to be a genuine globally connected economy, instead of just kind of an economic appendage to the United States, which in some ways we have become, I [see] opportunity,” he said.
Both Harper and Campbell, in their time, were advocates for the economic benefits of resource extraction.
“Resources are not the only thing we have, but it’s a big, big comparative advantage,” Harper said. “We’re the country that has an unlimited range of natural resources in a rule-of-law environment, far removed from conflict zones. Do you know how rare that is in the world when it comes to vital resources? And that’s what we have. And we’re not getting them out of the ground, and we’re not getting them around the world.… We’ve got to get our energy to Asia. We’ve got to get our energy to Europe.… It will bring billions of dollars into Canada, create thousands and thousands of jobs in Canada. We are up against the clock, and the clock doesn’t care much about us.”
The Sept. 7 program began with a video showcasing Shaare Zedek Hospital’s achievements in maternal and neonatal care, as well as the range of advanced medical procedures for which the hospital is known. The religious and ethnic diversity of the hospital’s staff and patients is a particular source of pride for the facility’s leadership and their Canadian supporters.
Harper spoke highly of the hospital, which treats more than a million patients a year.
“The Shaare Zedek Hospital is, to me, emblematic of just so much of what has made Israel a remarkable country,” he said. “[It has] become a world-leading institution that services people beyond politics, race, religion, ethnicity … just a tremendous institution.”
The event was presented by the Canadian Shaare Zedek Hospital Foundation in partnership with the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, Congregation Schara Tzedeck, the Jewish Independent and the Jewish Medical Association of British Columbia. Organizers expressed special thanks to CJPAC, the Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee, for their community support.
Ilan Pilo, Western Canada executive for Canadian Shaare Zedek Hospital Foundation, announced the success of the event, which resulted in funding for nine “Giraffe” incubators – each one costing $50,000 – for the hospital where 22,000 Israeli babies are born annually.
Dr. Robert Krell was awarded the Kurt and Edith Rothschild Humanitarian Award. (See jewishindependent.ca/harper-speaks-at-gala.) The award was presented by Dr. Arthur Dodek, a member of the board of the Jewish Medical Association and of the CSZHF, and Sam Sapera, chair of the board of the CSZHF, which marks its 50th anniversary this year.
The event was co-emceed by the Jewish Medical Association’s Dr. Marla Gordon and Zach Segal, who was a Conservative candidate in this year’s federal election.
