Anthony Housefather MP (born January 25, 1970)[4] is a Canadian Member of Parliament representing the riding of Mount Royal on the island of Montreal.

[6] Following the 2021 federal election, Housefather was named Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Services and Procurement, a position he held until fall 2023.

[11] On February 16, 2016, Housefather was unanimously elected Chairman of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.

[19] When his term on the national executive ended, Housefather ran for Hampstead Town Council and was elected in 1994, defeating two other candidates.

[19] He was re-elected in 1998, and served in this capacity until 2001, when the Quebec government forced all cities and towns on the Island of Montreal to merge.

[21] Housefather was elected President of Alliance Quebec in 2000 and served until 2001, when he ran for office in the new mega-city of Montreal following the forced mergers.

[9] In 2004, he served as co-chair of the demerger committee of the Côte Saint-Luc along with former City Councillors Mitchell Brownstein, Ruth Kovac, and Glenn J. Nashen.

He drafted and presented a brief with Town of Mount Royal Mayor Philippe Roy at the National Assembly of Quebec on Bill 14 on March 11, 2013.

With the help of D'Arcy-McGee MNA Lawrence Bergman, Housefather was able to convince the Quebec Government to add a provision to Bill 22 to allow Côte Saint-Luc to operate its first-responder service permanently.

[28] Housefather also was able to work with other mayors to save a local police station and to convince the Agglomeration of Montreal to adopt a resolution allocating $44 million for the Cavendish extension.

He also worked with Councillor Dida Berku and environmental groups to help preserve the Meadowbrook Golf Course as a green space.

In addition to his duties within local government, between 2006 and 2015 Housefather also served as the Secretary of the Association of Suburban Municipalities (ASM), which represents the 15 demerged cities and towns on the Island of Montreal.

With 1,948 ballots cast, Housefather was declared the winner and the official Liberal Party candidate for the 2015 federal election.

[43] Later that month, Housefather earned international media attention for a speech he delivered in support of an anti-Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) motion put forward in the House of Commons.

[50] In February 2016, Housefather relayed the support of the constituents in his riding for the Cavendish Boulevard extension between Côte St. Luc and St. Laurent in the House of Commons.

[52] In April 2016, Housefather and Minister of Families, Children and Social Development Jean-Yves Duclos announced the federal government would provide $390,913 over a period of three years for a new drop-in centre, which provides relief for caregivers of seniors, at the Côte St. Luc Aquatic and Community Centre as part of the New Horizons for Seniors Program.

Housefather has written several opinion pieces for Canadian newspapers, and has been interviewed on local and national news networks, sharing his views on subjects including his experience as a member of parliament, minority language issues, and his support of more permissive surrogacy laws in Canada.

[56][57][58] In November 2020, Housefather published an op-ed in CNN alongside his co-members of the Interparliamentary Taskforce on Combatting Online Antisemitism.

Their article expressed the need for global collaboration to hold social media companies accountable for what takes place on their platforms and to create internationally cohesive and transparent policies to tackle hate speech.

[59] In 2021, Housefather published an op-ed in the National Post discussing the need for a new independent institution in Canada to combat online disinformation.

[i] That same month, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported that Housefather and other Liberal members of parliament participated in a protest against Bill 96.

[62] Housefather was the Chair of The Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights[63] which, on March 13, 2019, voted to adjourn rather than debate whether Jody Wilson-Raybould should reappear before the committee to provide additional testimony on the SNC-Lavalin affair[64] and, on March 19, 2019 (the day of the 2019 Federal Budget), ended the study into the affair without calling further witnesses.

[65][66] In February 2019, Housefather apologized after suggesting during multiple media interviews that Jody Wilson-Raybould was likely shuffled for her inability to speak French.

[67] In May 2018, Housefather distanced himself from his own government and strongly disagreed with Justin Trudeau, when he made a statement that condemned the Israeli military for using excessive force against unarmed civilians and called for an independent investigation into Israel, after an Israeli sniper shot a Canadian physician, Dr. Tarek Loubani in Gaza.

Housefather characterizes himself as the one of the most prominent Israeli advocates in Parliament, and reiterated his loyalty to his constituents as well as Canada's Jewish community.