Senator Linda Frum, an accomplished writer and journalist who authored a Canadian bestseller, “Barbara Frum: Daughter’s Memoir (1996), was in Winnipeg April 28-29, 2011.
Frum, was appointed to the Senate by Prime Minister Stephen Harper on August 27, 2009 to represent the Province of Ontario.
She was in Winnipeg to attend the talk of her brother David Frum put on by the Jewish Heritage Centre and she addressed students at Gray Academy of Jewish Education and toured the Asper Campus. She said she was also in town to campaign on behalf of Winnipeg South Centre Joyce Bateman.
In an interview with the Winnipeg Jewish Review, Frum said in her view that “people who care about Israel in this election ought to choose the leadership of the most pro-Israel Prime Minister this country has had or may ever have.”
She referred to Harper as being “solid, steady, and predictable” regarding his support for Israel, and said he has "the strength of character to follow his convictions."
Frum is a former contributing editor to Maclean’ and was a columnist with the National Post and a former contributing editor to MacClean’s. She is a former chair of the women’s division of the United Jewish Appeal and a post board member of the Canada-Israel Committee said
When asked by the Winnipeg Jewish Review about what a Canadian government under Prime Minister Harper would do in the event that the Palestinians went to the UN this September to ask countries to support a unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 green line,( bypassing negotiations with Israel and not making commitments to obtain this state) Frum answered “I have full conviction that Prime Minister Harper will not ever support any initiative or declaration that is contrary to Israel’s safety and security. I will bet the bank on that he will never turn his back on Israel and what he perceives to be in the interests of the safety and security of Israel.”
Frum also said in her view “If Ignatieff is in power, he’ll be the exact same kind of leader Jean Chretien was—ambivalent about Israel and not afraid to double speak. Ignatieff is very willing to say platitudes to the Jewish community but when its time to speak at the U.N, confront Iran or recognize a unilaterally declared Palestinian state, the words and the actions won’t align.”
She also said, that the NDP would be in a coalition with the Liberals and “we have a very good idea of how hostile the NDP is.” She said “supporters of Israel ought to be asking themselves what does Libby Davies think about a unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state?, and “What does Jack Layton think?.”
Frum is currently a member of the Senate’s Standing Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources as well as the Standing Committee on Transport and Communications. She was previously a member of the Standing Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce.
Regarding Iran, Frum said the Harper government has taken important measures that impose economic sanctions, and that she thinks “they’ll have to be increased.”
Frum noted that she had toured the Asper Campus, which “has received a security system in 2007 from the Harper government for communities at risk .” ( According to Bob Freedman, Ceo of the Jewish Federation, the system cost approx $100,000).
When asked if it wasn’t the case that Liberals supported this type of security system also, she responded that “the Liberals were in power long after the issue of security arose post 9/11 yet the system wasn’t implemented until 2007 under Harper’s government.”
Frum, who is the honourary chair of Zareinu-a school for physically and developmentally challenged children, resides in Toronto with her husband Howard Sokolowski. She is the mother and step-mother to five children.
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