“To hell with the Jews!” came a cry from a member of the audience.
“Well said,” came the reply from Camillien Houde, mayor of the city of Montreal, who was addressing a meeting yesterday in Quebec City on the Jewish school question. “They have a new country and if they won’t meet your demands they can go to Palestine, their country.”
This startling statement was made by the mayor of the Canadian metropolis, which contains about 75,000 Jews, during one of his periodical attacks on the Jewish School Bill. Mr. Houde is the leader of the Conservative party opposition to the Liberal government of the Province of Quebec, which last spring passed a law giving the Jews of Montreal equal rights with the Protestant-English and Catholic-French of that city in the matter of schools for Jewish children and providing for the appointment of a Jewish school commission of seven. The Jewish school commission is now negotiating with the Protestant school commission of Montreal with regard to the possibility of Jewish children continuing to attend the Protestant schools of the city, instead of the Jews opening separate Jewish schools, and an announcement of the result of the negotiations is expected shortly.
The Mayor’s statement at yesterday’s meeting has caused great excitement and indignation among Montreal Jews, who declare this is the first time that a mayor of Montreal has come out with open anti-Semitic views. Indignation at the present moment is especially great, since it was expected that an agreement between the Protestants and the Jews on the school question would soon be announced, and the resentment aroused in certain Christian quarters of the province or Quebec over the possibility of separate Jewish schools being established would be allayed.
During his attack on the Liberal government of Quebec and on the Jews, the mayor said mockingly:
“I am happy to announce in the name of the government that the Jewish school commission law will be withdrawn at the next session.”
Resuming a serious face then, the mayor said:
“The government told us that the Protestants and the Jews have reached an understanding. They could have reached that understanding before, without having to sabotage the national constitution.”
What action Montreal Jews will take against the mayor’s anti-Semitic outburst at yesterday’s meeting in Quebec has not as yet been decided upon.
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