The recent announcement of a temporary 30-day pause in the Canada-U.S. tariff war came as a relief to this country’s largest importer of Kosher foods made in the United States. Montreal-based Altra Foods spent the earlier part of the week scrambling to place rush orders from suppliers south of the border, after Canada vowed to slap 25% retaliatory duties on some of the company’s 3,000 kosher imported brands, such as Sabra, Geffen, Streit’s, Hadar and even Bush Beans. But Altra’s vice president ,Jack Hartstein, worries that if the negotiations collapse,and the Canadian tariffs kick in next month-just ahead of Passover–prices will rise by between 50 and 60 percent for kosher food imports from the key U.S. market. That’s why Canada’s kashruth organizations COR and MK,and the Hasidic community have teamed up with political advocacy group CIJA, and with help from several Liberal MPs, to urge Ottawa to exempt kosher foods from this current trade war. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we’re joined by Jack Hartstein, of ALTRA Foods, on how his company is bracing for the impact, and what to expect next.

What we talked about:

• Read the list of U.S. products slated for Canadian-imposed 25% import tariffs.
• Why the 2025 proposed Canadian import tariffs will be much worse for kosher food consumers than the previous 2018 trade war, in The CJN
• Learn more about ALTRA Foods.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Dov Beck-Levine

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• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

A U.S. Senate committee is voting on Tuesday, Feb. 4 whether to recommend Robert F. Kennedy Jr. should go forward as President Donald Trump’s new secretary of health. If he makes it through, RFK Jr. would have a wide-reaching impact on a particular Canadian export: canola oil. Long considered a loud voice in the anti-vaccine movement , and pushing other conspiracy theories, RFK Jr. now on a crusade to ban the signature Canadian oil, along with other seed oils. He claims they are toxic, cause obesity and poison Americans. Notably, he is pushing McDonald’s to fry their foods in beef tallow instead. All this makes professor Michael Eskin shake his head. Eskin is an internationally renowned food scientist at the University of Manitoba who helped develop Canada’s $35-billion canola industry, including canola oil, as a heart-healthy part of our diet. Eskin’s nearly 60 years of research—spanning 19 books and 150 scientific papers—have earned him an Order of Canada, the Order of Manitoba, and countless professional awards, including, most recently, induction into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame. Eskin is a fan of some of RFK Jr.’s other pet peeves: he is similarly critical of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s handling of COVID, for example, and Dr. Anthony Fauci of the CDC But on the canola oil file, the professor thinks the future health czar is giving out the wrong diagnosis. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, Eskin joins host Ellin Bessner to explain the benefits of canola oil, share its origin story, and discuss what’s at stake should Canada slap tariffs on exports of canola to the U.S.

What we talked about:

• Read more on why Canada’s Agricultural Hall of Fame inducted Prof. Michael Eskin into the Class of 2024, for his decades of research on canola oil as a heart-healthy staple.
• Watch Prof. Michael Eskin’s rap video on lipids, on YouTube.
• Read why Eskin won the Order of Canada, in 2016.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Dov Beck-Levine

Support our show

• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

By day, Avrom Charach works for a property management company in Winnipeg. But since Oct. 7, the prominent Jewish community leader has been working even longer hours on a one-man clean-up crew, removing hate-fuelled graffiti from the streets of his home city. So far, Charach has wiped away more than 100 messages from a synagogue, community centre, sidewalks, public buildings and even street lamps.

Winnipeg's police department calls Charach a "community angel" for removing the tags, stickers, posters and slogans himself—for free—sometimes before the city's own clean-up crews can get to the scene. It's all happening since hate crimes have hit a historic high in the city after Oct. 7: in 2023, the last year with available figures, there were 46 cases of hate crimes, including 18 against Jews and five against Muslims.

On today's episode of The CJN Daily, Avrom Charach joins host Ellin Bessner to explain how this act of tikkun olam has made him an unpaid go-to graffiti buster.

What we talked about:

• Watch the Winnipeg Police news conference announcing the arrest in connection with antisemitic graffiti on Jan. 14, 2025.
• Read why Avrom Charach helped his Etz Chayim synagogue move to a bigger building, in the south end of Winnipeg, in 2024, in The CJN.
• More on the historic move from Winnipeg’s North End to the south side, where more Jews live, in The CJN.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Dov Beck-Levine

Support our show

• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)