![\"Stephen](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wranter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Stephen_Harper_by_Remy_Steinegger.jpg\")
<\/a>\u201cWe do not offer them a better health-care plan than the ordinary Canadian can receive,\u201d Harper said. \u201cI think that\u2019s something that both new and existing and old-stock Canadians can agree with.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Critics pounced, calling it either a lapse that showed Harper\u2019s true racist colours or a deliberate, coded dog whistle to his intolerant party core.<\/span><\/p>\n But if you watched the debate, it was clear Harper was searching for a way to express how both new and old Canadians might agree with his policy. By the next day, he clarified that the phrase referred to \u201cCanadians who have been the descendants of immigrants for one or more generations.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Under that definition, with four European-born grandparents, I and many other Jews qualify. As such, Walrus<\/i> editor Jonathan Kay was right to say the comment was no big deal.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYes, \u2018old-stock\u2019 is a fusty phrase, offensive to some. But it\u2019s idiotic the way the media is acting like Harper used the n-word or something,\u201d Kay tweeted Sept. 20<\/a>. \u201cIn fact: is there an example of a right-wing [political] party, in any country, so decisively opening itself up to immigrant groups as Harper\u2019s?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n At worst, the prime minister was guilty of using an inelegant expression that\u2019s more prevalent in nationalist discourse \u2013 similar phrases are common in Quebec \u2013 than everyday political parlance.<\/span><\/p>\n Speaking of criticizing Harper, on Sept. 21, York Centre MP Mark Adler issued a statement decrying \u201canti-Semitic\u201d graffiti spray-painted on a street <\/a>in a Jewish area of his Toronto riding. They were: \u201cStop Harrper\u201d (sic), \u201cDeath = Harper,\u201d and an image of a swastika beside the words \u201c= Harper.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It will cause problematic situation that could even lead to death if the dose of Kamagra Jelly is exceeded over 1 order generic cialis<\/a> in 24 hours & no other health supervision is taken by the patient. So staying in right shape viagra professional online<\/a> & size, maintaining healthy weight and quitting smoking. So, order Kamagra oral jelly online today viagra best prices<\/a> to enjoy an instant service. They are all derivatives of cialis online raindogscine.com<\/a> which can cure erectly problems and such problems are normally not disclosed in front of any individual and hence people would definitely intend to buy it online. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI am deeply disturbed by the appalling anti-Semitic graffiti in the Bathurst Manor area, which trivializes the Holocaust, denigrates the memory of Holocaust victims, and is highly offensive to the ethnically and religiously diverse members of the Conservative party,\u201d wrote Adler, who is, famously, the son of a Shoah survivor.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMoreover, the timing of this odious graffiti is deplorable as Jews across Canada prepare for Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement and holiest day in the Jewish calendar.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Anti-Semitic graffiti in a Jewish neighbourhood is indeed reprehensible, especially when it appears around an important Jewish holiday. The only problem is that the crude scrawlings were more anti-Harper than anti-Jewish.<\/span><\/p>\n Harper has been a vocal supporter of Israel and a friend to Jews for reasons that seem to transcend electoral considerations, but he\u2019s not actually Jewish. So while using swastikas in political debate is rhetorically juvenile \u2013 unless you\u2019re criticizing actual Nazis, and Harper isn\u2019t one at all \u2013 it\u2019s not anti-Semitic to make the comparison. It\u2019s just dumb.<\/span><\/p>\n Finally, over Yom Kippur came news that Alex Johnstone, the NDP candidate in Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas \u2013 and, disturbingly, current vice-chair of the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board \u2013 apologized for making a penis joke about Auschwitz on a friend\u2019s Facebook page in 2008. She then admitted that up until the controversy erupted, she didn\u2019t know what Auschwitz was<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAhhh, the infamous Pollish [sic], phallic, hydro posts\u2026 of course you took pictures of this! It expresses\u2026 how the curve is normal, natural and healthy right!\u201d she wrote about a picture of curved electrified fence posts around the death camp in a comment unearthed by a satirical website.<\/span><\/p>\n Johnstone, who is in her early 30s, seemed sincere when she told the Hamilton Spectator<\/i> there was \u201cno malice intended\u201d in the remark. The bigger issue, however, is that although she said she\u2019d \u201cheard about concentration camps,\u201d it\u2019s disconcerting that a school trustee who wants to be an MP was ignorant about the most notorious killing ground in human history.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In 2011, Johnstone tweeted that it was \u201cgreat to hear\u201d<\/a> Peel students were learning about the Holocaust, and in 2013, she tweeted about a Hamilton teacher who won an award for Holocaust education.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Perhaps she should do more than just tweet about the Shoah.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This wRant was originally published as a Campaign Notebook column<\/a> in the Oct. 1\u00a0edition of The\u00a0Canadian Jewish News.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>