Canadian Mayor Criticized for Refusing to Attend Menorah Lighting Ceremony
It snowed on Dec. 7 in Calgary.
Its mayor, Jyoti Gondek, needs to take a walk in it. A long walk.
When she’s finished, she needs to sit down at her laptop, type out a brief letter of resignation, clean out her desk, develop a new plan for her life, and leave city hall.
For good.
The shame and embarrassment Ms. Gondek brought to her city, when she turned on its tiny, beleaguered Jewish community—by boycotting its annual lighting of the menorah in recognition of Hanukkah—can be mitigated, but it cannot be forgiven and won’t be forgotten. At least not until she does the right thing and leaves office.
Around 8:30 pm on the eve of the annual city hall event—a mainstay of Calgary’s faith culture, along with Christmas and other religious festivals—Ms. Gondek posted a lengthy letter on X expressing her shock at seeing a poster for the event that mentioned celebrating Israel. She interpreted this as a late-in-the-day politicization of the event which, as Councillor Dan Maclean would later point out, has maintained the exact same format for 35 years. But to Ms. Gondek, it was the old Jew switcheroo.
“This last minute change goes against the original intention and has left me feeling let down by leadership,” she wrote. “I am saddened that this change makes it impossible for me to attend … And I am incredibly concerned that people wishing to celebrate Hanukkah will have their good intentions compromised.”
The alarmed Jewish community unsurprisingly pressed on, called for support, and in the end the menorah was lit without incident, talk of politics, or war in front of what from all accounts was a record turnout.
“Great event at city hall,” posted one attendee, Brad Tennant. “It’s a shame that the Jewish community faces the discrimination they do in 2023, but they’re wonderful … . Calgary rules.”
And then, batting cleanup, former Alberta premier Jason Kenney chimed in. In a series of X posts, he illustrated her complete misunderstanding of how Hanukkah and Israel are inextricably linked.
Calgary is commonly viewed as the capital of Canadian conservatism, but it has a long history of electing liberal mayors and “activist” city councillors. They have ranged from pragmatists such as Dave Bronconnier to relentless idealists such as Naheed Nenshi. Ms. Gondek is not just the latest version of those. She is the most extreme. Upon taking office she immediately tore up the agreement with the Calgary Flames (later reinstated) for a new arena and, unrelated, declared a state of “climate emergency.” She is, in other words, the epitome of the modern left. It should come as no surprise then—in the same week the world watched presidents of leading American universities equivocate on whether calls for the extermination of Jews were acceptable—that Ms.. Gondek would find herself boiling in a similar pot.
She tried, in an X-post, to make up (sort of) but couldn’t even bring herself to use the word “Jewish.” On CBC radio the next morning, she once again placed the blame for the entire affair at the door of the Jewish community, the language it uses, and its poster that mentioned Israel.
She proved herself not only wrongheaded and ignorant about Hanukkah, but also disinterested in learning about and respecting the roots of Judaism.
In doing so, she inspired hurt and division within her city, and embarrassed it before the province, the nation, and the world.
It’s time Ms. Gondek takes a walk.
