One of the things that is mostly invisible to average people is just how networked Canada’s elites are. They attend each others’ parties. They donate to each others’ causes. As I was going through the signatories of this letter, it was impossible to not notice that there were a few patterns that kept appearing among the signatories. Here are some of the connections that I noticed…
The Change Makers Gala fundraising for the Brian Mulroney Chair in Government at Tel Aviv University.
Held two years and a half into the genocide on April 26, 2026, the gala was a who’s who of Canada’s elite. Tel Aviv University Canada is governed by a national board, regional boards and the gala has its own committee. Stephen Harper is its honourary chair. Ben and Mark Mulroney were among the honourees (obviously) and Victoria Mancinelli, the daughter of LiUNA’s Canadian president is on the gala committee — all were signatories to the antisemitism full-page ad. Adam Daifallah, staff at the Horatio Alger Society, a group that I write about below, is also on the gala committee.
Pierre Poilievre, Doug Ford and Brad²Ford were both in attendance. The event, reported by the Toronto Star, intended to celebrate, among other things, “the enduring relationship between Canada and Israel.” No mentions of genocide here — it was just good vibes.
In a video, Mancinelli says, “Israel really stands as a beacon of resilience, hope and strength for us all.” Jean Charest was in the video. And, many companies that appeared in the full-page ad sponsored the event: CIBC, Beedie, LiUNA, BMO, Teneo, George Weston Ltd and PwC.
There’s another connection here too — the “Gala Sponsor,” the group at the top of the list of sponsors under its own heading, is the Foundation Gray, an American foundation funded by Mindy and Jon Gray. They gave Tel Aviv University $125 million in that school’s largest ever donation in June 2025. The i24 Tel Aviv video shows the Grays’ liberal Zionism — “to be rebuilders in a broken world” and to ensure that Arab Israelis and Jewish Israelis can come together at the medical school. President Isaac Hertzog welcomed the couple’s donation, saying, “in the face of evil, we are choosing life and treating all lives as sacred” (impossible to not immediately hear the words of Palestinian poet Rafeef Ziadah). Anyway. The Grays are incredibly wealthy thanks in part to the fact that Jon is the chairperson of Blackstone — the world’s largest alternative asset manager, and the chair of Hilton Hotels. But here’s the connection — Brian Mulroney was on Blackstone’s board up until his death. The Grays appear in the gala video honouring Mulroney.
Since 2016, the Canadian charity has sent $64 million to Israel.
If you’re wondering if it’s weird that Canada allows tax-payers’ dollars to be funnelled out of Canada to a university in Tel Aviv, it isn’t that weird — there are dozens and dozens of schools that CRA considers to be “qualified donees” — that is, universities where charities are allowed to send their money. Most Israeli schools were registered in 2012, the first year that schools were added to the list.
It’s notable that Israel’s universities are complicit in the genocide. Technion and the Weizmann Institute gave birth to the Israeli arms company Raphael. And yes, the Weizmann Institute also has a Canadian charity. Since 2016, $140 million has been sent to the Weizman institute through Canadian charitable donations, and $65 million has been given to Technion. At the end of May, a gala was held for the Weizman Institute that raised $8 million. You can read more about the money that Canadians are sending to Israeli institutions here, from Just Peace Advocates. You can catch the Ben Gurion University Gala in the Fall, featuring Michael Douglas.
The Horatio Alger Society - Canada
Named for an author of several rags-to-riches paperbacks, the Horatio Alger society raises money for scholarships to demonstrate that even the poorest of young people under capitalism can go to university (literally! From their American website: “To mentor scholarship recipients and educate all youth about the limitless possibilities that are available through the American free enterprise system, while underscoring the importance of helping others.”)
Brian Mulroney was a vice-president of the organization up until his death.
They host a gala each year to raise money for their endowment fund, which currently sits at $31 million. Last year’s gala raised $8 million and was hosted by Steve Paikin.
The organization is lead by a board of six people, two of whom signed the letter (Prem Watsa and Adam Waterous) and one whose hospital he named after himself signed the letter (Jay Hennick). They also give out special awards to CEOs. Stéphane Cretier (Gardaworld), Bob Dhillon (Mainstreat Equity) and Darryl White (BMO) all won Horatio Alger awards in 2025 (of 6 awards). They also have something called the Jim Pattison Award (who also signed the letter) which has existed since 2022 and that Pattison himself has won 50% of the time.
They list several organizations that give young people scholarships as “strategic partners” though do not actually give those organizations the money for scholarships — they state that they ask these organizations to share information with students about the Horatio Alger awards.
Obviously, the extremely wealthy want to promote the glories of free enterprise in a society where higher education is more and more difficult to access, as they suck out public funding for higher education through their corporate profits, and then hand-pick the poor students that meet their ideological standards to actually go on to university, college or the trades.
Huron College Board of Governors - Western University
Huron College is the only educational institute on the list of signatories. Signed by its president and vice-chancellor Barry Craig, several names from their board of governors appears in the ad as well. The college’s president is Prem Watsa from Fairfax Holdings and fellow governors Brian J. Porter (Scotiabank) and Benjie Thomas (KPMG) signed the letter. Plus, there are representatives from the Rogers family, Fairfax (yes, there are two Fairfax reps on this board) and the law firm Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, all of which had other reps sign the letter.
If you’re wondering, no, there are no representatives of any service groups in London, progressive not-for-profits or anything of the like on the board. The neoliberal transformation of higher education has been lead by this kind of over-representation of the corporate world on university boards of education.
Right-wing think tanks
Both the Fraser Institute and the MacDonald-Laurier Institute benefit handsomely from the fact that corporates pay out enormous profits to men who then invest in right-wing, free-market capitalist booster charities. The Beedie foundation, for example, gave the Fraser Institute half a million dollars in 2024, and Ryan Beedie, Gwyn Morgan, Mark Mulroney (CIBC) and John Love (Kingsett REIT) are on the board.
As for the McDonald-Laurier Institute, they receive funding from the O’Born family (Janice and Earle of The Printing House both signed the letter). Bob Dhillon and David Mulroney are on the organization’s advisory committee. The Institute has recently launched a project called The Promised Land where they conflate Jews with the state of Israel, hoping to, “address critical gaps in Canadian understanding of Israel and the Middle East, combat growing antisemitism, and counter extremism to uphold democratic values and foster informed dialogue.” They blame “recklessness in our immigration system” for why there is an increase in antisemitism.
See any other connections? Feel free to get in touch with me!
Man, all roads that suck sure lead to Brian Mulroney
"Reckless in our immigration system " lol, yep pretty sure that the moment Britain arrived on Canada's shores antisemitism put it's foot out of the boat and chances are that the French brought it too. I'm so tired of the conflating of antisemitism, and not supporting a particular country's inhumane treatment of other humans.