The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) and UJA Federation of Greater Toronto are hosting a federal election debate this Wednesday, Sept. 30, at the Warehouse event venue in Toronto. The debate will begin at 7:30 p.m, and will be moderated by The CJN’s editor-in-chief Yoni Goldstein.

With only weeks remaining before voters head to the polls on Oct. 19, candidates Joe Oliver of the Conservative party, Bill Morneau of the Liberal party, and Hal Berman of the New Democratic Party (NDP) will discuss a number of issues that are significant not only to members of the Jewish community, but to Canadians across the country. According to Shimon Fogel, CIJA’s chief executive cfficer, over 300 people have already pre-registered, and he expects for the event, like the mayoral debate that preceded it, to sell out.

To pre-register for the debate, click here.

“People have a real interest in being able to ask some of the questions that are of particular concern to the Jewish and pro-Israel community,” Fogel says during an interview with The CJN, “and this will give them the best opportunity for credible party spokespeople to address them.”

There are several questions Fogel is referring to here.

1. Domestic security. “I think that people really want to hear about what the various parties’ approaches are to domestic security that touches Toronto in particular, and of course there will be some focus on Israel and Iran,” Fogel says.

2. Genetic discrimination. “We as a community have a predisposition for an unusual amount of genetic disorders and in many cases early knowledge allows for effective management of them,” he says. The problem, however, is while advances in technological testing are being done, there is no protection for the individual against insurance companies accessing medical records in a way that could result in discrimination.

Furthermore, if employers learn of this information it can impact whether or not they will hire a certain individual. “Not only is this discriminatory, but complicated because people who know they will be discriminated against may choose not to have that kind of testing because they don’t want to expose themselves to that type of discrimination or denial of insurance,” Fogel says. This can result in people not having “the benefit or knowledge that could either be life saving, or quality of life improving.”

As Canada is the only G7 country “that doesn’t have specific protections in place to have provisions for gender discrimination, this is an important issue specifically for the Jewish community.”

3. Jewish poverty. “This perception of Jews being rich and comfortable is not supported by the facts,” Fogel says. “We have a growing segment of our community that is challenged by the issues of poverty. Nationally, there is about 15 per cent of Jews living below the poverty line, and that’s something that makes the whole range of issues related to poverty important for us to understand in respect to where the parties are, what kind of programs they would be supportive of, and how they will approach the issue of providing that support and mechanism within Canadian society for people that don’t have the resources to take care of themselves.”

According to Fogel, these are the main issues that will be discussed during the debate, and the candidates’ responses will directly influence people’s decisions come election day. “This is going to come to the attention of Jews across the country, and I think that simply magnifies the significance of this particular initiative of the debate itself.”

Fogel also makes the distinction between Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee (CJPAC), which aims to pair individuals in the community with particular candidates, and CIJA, which advocates for “the generic principle of engagement in the political process, whether it’s being informed, joining a particular campaign, or ensuring that others have the ability to go out and vote.”

According to Fogel,  there is a higher political participation within the Jewish community in the days leading up to the election than in previous years.

Because it is important for CIJA that voters are fluent about issues of particular concern to the Jewish and pro-Israel community, they’ve developed an election guide that addresses these issues. “Obviously Jews should be, and are, concerned about the complete spectrum of things from the economy to the environment, but there’s also a basket of issues of special concern to us.”