The Honourable
Omar Alghabra
PC MP
عمر الغبرا
Alghabra in 2021
Minister of Transport
In office
January 12, 2021[1] – July 26, 2023
Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau
Preceded byMarc Garneau
Succeeded byPablo Rodriguez
Member of Parliament
for Mississauga Centre
Assumed office
October 19, 2015
Preceded byRiding established
Member of Parliament
for Mississauga—Erindale
In office
January 23, 2006 – October 14, 2008
Preceded byCarolyn Parrish
Succeeded byBob Dechert
Personal details
Born (1969-10-24) October 24, 1969
Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia
Citizenship
  • Canadian
  • Syrian[2]
Political partyLiberal
ResidenceMississauga[3]

Omar Alghabra PC MP (Arabic: عمر الغبرا, romanized: ʿUmar al-Ḡabrā; born October 24, 1969) is a Saudi-born Syrian-Canadian politician who served as Canada's minister of transport from 2021 to 2023. A member of the Liberal Party, he has represented the riding of Mississauga Centre in the House of Commons since the 2015 election. He was previously the member of Parliament (MP) for Mississauga—Erindale from 2006 to 2008.

Early life and education

Alghabra was born in Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia to a Syrian family. His father, an architect, moved their family to Saudi Arabia in 1968.[4] Alghabra has stated that he remembers living a sheltered life there, attending private school and visiting Syria in the summer.[5] Alghabra completed his high school education at the Dhahran Ahliyya School in Alkhobar. He then moved to Damascus, Syria, where he started his engineering degree at Damascus University. He decided to complete his education in Canada.

Alghabra moved to Toronto when he was 19 years old to attend school. He attended grade 13 to obtain his Ontario high school diploma. Later, he completed his Bachelor of Engineering at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute.[6]

Alghabra also attended York University, where he graduated with a Master of Business Administration.[6]

Professional career

Alghabra's first job was at Ainsworth Inc. as a quality assurance supervisor. He later transitioned to sales and worked as the predictive maintenance supervisor.[7] Afterwards, he joined General Electric (GE) as a Six Sigma Black Belt in the industrial service business.[8] He became the global business leader for GE's industrial refurbished parts business.

After his political defeat in the 2008 general election, Alghabra joined ENBALA Power Networks as their vice president for corporate development.[9] Later, he worked as an advisor to the COO of the Ontario Energy Board on innovation in the utility sector.[7] Alghabra returned to the Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science after being appointed a distinguished visiting professor. In this role, he also joined Ryerson's start-up incubator DMZ as their executive-in-residence.[9]

Alghabra was the president of the Canadian Arab Federation (CAF) in 2004–2005. After Alghabra left CAF, the group made controversial statements, and Alghabra condemned those statements.[10]

Political career

Alghabra first took office following the 2006 federal election to the 39th Parliament of Canada, then again in 2015 to the 42nd Parliament of Canada.

When a MP retired, Alghabra left General Electric to run as the Liberal candidate in the 2006 federal election in the riding of Mississauga—Erindale. He defeated Conservative candidate Bob Dechert by 3,328 votes.[11] After that election there was a Conservative Party minority government, led by Stephen Harper. He was defeated in 2008, and then was elected again in 2015, and re-elected in 2019.

He served as parliament secretary to the minister of foreign affairs (consular affairs) from 2015 to 2018 and parliament secretary to the minister of international trade diversification from 2018 to 2019.[9] Alghabra was re-elected in the 2019 federal election. He was appointed as parliament secretary to the prime minister (public service renewal) and parliament secretary to the deputy prime minister and minister of intergovernmental affairs.[12] He was also sworn in as a member of the Privy Council in February 2020.[13] In the Cabinet reshuffle on January 12, 2021, Alghabra became the transport minister, succeeding Marc Garneau.

Following a motion condemning Islamophobia amidst death threats to Muslim MPs, Alghabra stated that his primary concern was his staff who process these messages.[14] He continued that it is important to have a conversation about Islamophobia and that he purposely does not delete comments received on his Facebook page. Alghabra attributes backlash against the motion to a campaign of misinformation and ignorance.[14]

Backbencher

Consular affairs

As Parliament Secretary, Alghabra had a consular affairs file that oversaw 250,000 cases.[5] He worked on the cases on John Ridsdel, Joshua Boyle and helped assisting Canadians stranded by Hurricane Irma in the Caribbean.[5]

Trade

Alghabra was appointed Parliament Secretary to the Minister of International Trade Diversification and served from 2018 to 2019. Alghabra also served on the Standing Committee for International Trade.

Flight 752

Alghabra was tasked with working directly with victims' families of the Ukrainian International Airlines Flight PS752. Alghabra stated that the government is offering legal assistance and exploring forms of interim compensation while they wait for proper compensation to be settled with Iran.[15] Alghabra also announced that Ottawa will match funds raised during the Canada Strong campaign launched to raise $1.5 million for those who lost loved ones when the Ukrainian passenger plane was shot down by the Iranian military.[16]

Minister of Transport

Alghabra became Minister of Transport on January 12, 2021, following the resignation of industry minister Navdeep Bains, resulting in a Cabinet shuffle.[17]

On July 25, 2023, Alghabra announced he was stepping down from cabinet and would not run in the next election.[18]

Electoral record

2021 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes%±%
LiberalOmar Alghabra25,71454.22–1.54
ConservativeKathy-Ying Zhao13,39028.23–1.30
New DemocraticTeneshia Samuel5,33011.24+1.62
People'sElie Diab2,1484.53+2.97
GreenCraig Laferriere8641.82–1.24
Total valid votes 47,431
Total rejected ballots 4620.96
Turnout 47,89356.32
Eligible voters 85,044
Liberal hold Swing –1.54
Source: Elections Canada[19]
2019 Canadian federal election: Mississauga Centre
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
LiberalOmar Alghabra29,97455.76+1.04$93,154.83
ConservativeMilad Mikael15,87429.53-4.09none listed
New DemocraticSarah Walji5,1739.62+0.13none listed
GreenHugo Reinoso1,6463.06+0.88$0.00
People'sDavid Micalef8371.56–$1,997.84
IndependentGreg Vezina2520.47–$1,248.05
Total valid votes/expense limit 53,756100.0  
Total rejected ballots 475
Turnout 54,23162.3
Eligible voters 87,047
Liberal hold Swing +2.57
Source: Elections Canada[20][21]
2015 Canadian federal election: Mississauga Centre
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
LiberalOmar Alghabra28,37254.72+20.77–
ConservativeJulius Tiangson17,43133.62-8.06–
New DemocraticFarheen Khan4,9209.49-9.51–
GreenLinh Nguyen1,1292.18-0.14–
Total valid votes/Expense limit 51,852100.0 $218,539.24
Total rejected ballots 342––
Turnout 52,194––
Eligible voters 82,443
Source: Elections Canada[22][23][24]
2011 Canadian federal election: Mississauga-Erindale
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
ConservativeBob Dechert29,79346.95+4.24–
LiberalOmar Alghabra21,54133.95-8.05–
New DemocraticMichelle Bilek10,32716.27+7.73–
GreenJohn Fraser1,6942.67-3.83–
Marxist–LeninistDagmar Sullivan990.16-0.07–
Total valid votes 63,454 100.00–
Total rejected ballots 217 0.34-0.02
Turnout 63,671 61.61 +5.4
Eligible voters 103,337 ––
2008 Canadian federal election: Mississauga-Erindale
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
ConservativeBob Dechert23,86342.71+3.3$96,559
LiberalOmar Alghabra23,46642.00-2.8$74,412
New DemocraticMustafa Rizvi4,7748.54-2.6$1,330
GreenRichard Pietro3,6366.50+2.1
Marxist–LeninistDagmar Sullivan1290.23-0.3
Total valid votes/Expense limit 55,868100.00$98,112
Total rejected ballots 2030.36 -0.06
Turnout 56,07156.2-9.9
2006 Canadian federal election: Mississauga-Erindale
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
LiberalOmar Alghabra26,85244.81-9.56$75,892
ConservativeBob Dechert23,52439.25+7.30$81,890
New DemocraticRupinder Brar6,64411.08+1.26$3,459
GreenAdam Hunter2,6134.36+0.79$1,484
IndependentRonnie Amyotte2890.48–$1,249
Total valid votes/Expense limit 59,922100.00$162,852
Total rejected ballots 2510.42-0.10
Turnout 60,17365.5+6.2

References

  1. ↑ "PM to shuffle cabinet with Navdeep Bains retiring from politics". CTVNews. January 11, 2021.
  2. ↑ "Dion Among a Dozen MPs with Dual Citizenships". CBC News. December 8, 2006. Retrieved April 10, 2021.
  3. ↑ "Official Voting Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved January 23, 2021.
  4. ↑ "Senator Invokes MP's Birthplace To Question His Judgment On Saudi Spat". HuffPost Canada. August 9, 2018. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  5. 1 2 3 "Syrian-Canadian MP Omar Alghabra's story is one shared by millions". Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  6. 1 2 "Omar Alghabra". OpenCanada. April 6, 2012. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  7. 1 2 "Our Campaigns - Candidate - Omar Alghabra". www.ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  8. ↑ "Interview with Honorable Member Omar Alghabra". YouTube. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021.
  9. 1 2 3 "Omar Alghabra | Team Trudeau". omaralghabra.liberal.ca. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  10. ↑ Campbell Clark (January 15, 2021). "The Bloc's sneaky slur against a mild-mannered Muslim MP". The Globe and Mail.
  11. ↑ "Election results...riding by riding". The Globe and Mail. January 24, 2006. p. A16.
  12. ↑ GmbH, finanzen net. "Prime Minister welcomes new parliamentary secretaries | Markets Insider". markets.businessinsider.com. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  13. ↑ Office, Privy Council (December 13, 2019). "Omar Alghabra, Parliamentary Secretary". aem. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  14. 1 2 "Liberals consider help for MPs facing threats, harassment, even death threats". thestar.com. March 5, 2017. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  15. ↑ "Garneau says compensation for Flight PS752 victims' families is a 'priority'".
  16. ↑ "Ottawa pledges to match funds raised for families of Iran plane crash victims". CityNews Edmonton. January 22, 2020. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  17. ↑ "New Transport Minister Alghabra takes on portfolio at a time of crisis". The Globe and Mail. January 12, 2021.
  18. ↑ Ljunggren, David; Scherer, Steve; Ljunggren, David (July 25, 2023). "Ahead of Canadian cabinet shuffle, three more ministers bow out". Reuters. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
  19. ↑ "List of confirmed candidates – September 20, 2021 Federal Election". Elections Canada. Retrieved September 2, 2021.
  20. ↑ "List of confirmed candidates". Elections Canada. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
  21. ↑ "Election night results". Elections Canada. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
  22. ↑ Canada, Elections. "Voter Information Service - Find your electoral district". www.elections.ca.
  23. ↑ Canada, Elections. "Error page". www.elections.ca.
  24. ↑ "Federal Election 2015: Mississauga Centre riding results". Global News.
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