Anthony Housefather
- Born
- January 25, 1970 — Montreal, Quebec
- Education
- B.C.L. and LL.B. from McGill University, and an MBA from Concordia University's John Molson School of Business
- Career
- Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs and General Counsel, at Dialogic Corporation
- Political Experience
- Municipal councillor in the Town of Hampstead (1994-2001), municipal councillor in the borough of Côte Saint-Luc-Hampstead-Montreal West (2001), Mayor of the City of Côte Saint-Luc (2005-2015), Member of Parliament for Mount Royal (2015-present)
- Notable
- Nationally ranked athlete as a student, seven medals at the 2013 Maccabiah Games, five medals at the 2017 Maccabiah Games. Appointed as advisor on Canadian Jewish community and antisemitism in July 2024.
Based on publicly available information — may contain inaccuracies
Business & Financial Interests
Before entering federal politics, Anthony Housefather had a career in both law and business. He practiced law at a Montreal-based firm and later served as the Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs and General Counsel for Dialogic Corporation, a technology company. His public service career began at the municipal level, where he served as a city councillor and later as the mayor of Côte Saint-Luc, a city in his current federal riding.
Key Relationships & Connections
Anthony Housefather is the successor to former Justice Minister Irwin Cotler in the Mount Royal riding, and the two have been described as political allies. Housefather is a prominent voice on issues concerning the Jewish community in Canada and serves as the chair of the Canada-Israel Interparliamentary Group. He is known to work with various community organizations on issues of antisemitism and human rights.
Public Controversies
Anthony Housefather has been at the center of public attention for publicly disagreeing with his own Liberal government on several key issues. In March 2024, he reportedly threatened to leave the Liberal caucus over the government's initial willingness to support a modified NDP motion related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which he argued was anti-Israel. The government ultimately changed its position after significant pressure from Housefather and other MPs. He has also been a vocal and consistent critic of Quebec's secularism law (Bill 21) and its French-language law (Bill 96), arguing they infringe on minority rights. His outspokenness on these files has sometimes placed him at odds with his party's official stance and generated significant media coverage.
Where Anthony falls on key policy spectrums
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People & Society
How We're Governed
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How does Anthony Housefather's voting record line up with your values?
I understand that you proactively interviewed the four final candidates in terms of in-person interviews. You did enormous diligence based on their questionnaires. Did you also do heightened levels of diligence with respect to things that they may not have disclosed in the questionnaire? I'm sure they were subject to credit and criminal checks and other similar types of publicly available, open
I have one final question, if I may, Madam Chair. It's very short. Mr. Minister, again, in the United States, there are often presidents who say that they must have an originalist, or there is a prime minister that might say they need somebody who embraces the living tree doctrine, or they must have a strict constructionist. Can you assure us that you did not put any kind of litmus test on the
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Thank you very much to all of you for being here. Ms. McTeer, to you and your committee, thank you for your work. To Justice Martin, I appreciate her service to the court. I had the pleasure of being on the committee and asking her questions when she was appointed. I am a McGill grad, of course. I just want to say how much I appreciate this process, and I
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I understand. The only reason I raise this is that the committee could one day say there's one candidate who is so distinguished and so much above everybody else that they are going to propose only one. That's why I look at that and I'm concerned, but I understand the point. Were you concerned about the fact that there were only nine applications, given that in the past there have been times
We support the amendment.
Mr. Chair, I've been in the House now for 10 years, and the standard when you're going through clause-by-clause at a committee is that you usually cover an amendment in approximately 10 minutes, so you go through six an hour. Some of them take longer, some of them are shorter, and some of them are done in a minute. Last night, we spent eight and a half hours, and we got through two amendments.
Mr. Speaker, I believe that this will foster a sense of security for all communities, because no one wants to be the target of hatred. It is true that CJA-Québec said that it supports the Bloc Québécois and the proposal that it put forward a few years ago. We saw what was happening on the streets of Montreal and the fact that no prosecutor was taking action due to the potential use of this