Babar "Bob" Saroya (born February 3, 1952) is a former Canadian politician, who served as the Member of Parliament for the riding of

Markham—Unionville Markham—Unionville could refer to: *Markham—Unionville (federal electoral district) Markham—Unionville is a federal electoral district (Canada), electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Common ...

in the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

from 2015 to 2021.

Background

Saroya immigrated to Canada from India in 1974. He eventually went on to own several restaurants and became a sales director with Pizza Pizza before first running for office in 2008.

Political Career

Saroya ran unsuccessfully for the

in 2008 and 2011, contesting the ridings of Etobicoke North and

, respectively. In the

2015 Canadian federal election The 2015 Canadian federal election was held on October 19, 2015, to elect the 338 members of the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons of the 42nd Canadian Parliament, 42nd Parliament of Canada. In accordance with the Fixed election date ...

, Saroya was elected as Member of Parliament for the riding of

. His election was unique because he was the only candidate in Canada to pick up a seat from the Liberals, who had won a majority government in that election. During the

42nd Canadian Parliament The 42nd Canadian Parliament was in session from December 3, 2015, to September 11, 2019, with the membership of its lower chamber, the House of Commons of Canada, having been determined by the results of the 2015 federal election held on Octob ...

, Saroya sponsored one private member bill
C-338
''An Act to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (punishment)'', which would have increased mandatory minimum sentences for those convicted of importing controlled drugs and substances. The bill was debated at second reading but was defeated by the Liberals; only members from the Conservative Party voted in favour. In 2018, Saroya sparked controversy when it was revealed that he took a free 8-day trip to Beijing to get a letter to the then-Tory leader

Andrew Scheer Andrew James Scheer (born May 20, 1979) is a Canadian politician who is the Leader of the Official Opposition (Canada), leader of the Opposition since 2025 and previously from 2017 to 2020 as Leader of the Conservative Party (Canada), leader of ...

delivered and to make the leader’s travel to Beijing happen as soon as possible. Saroya was re-elected in the

2019 Canadian federal election The 2019 Canadian federal election was held on October 21, 2019. Members of the House of Commons were elected to the 43rd Canadian Parliament. In keeping with the maximum four-year term under a 2007 amendment to the ''Canada Elections Act'', ...

. During the ensuing

43rd Canadian Parliament The 43rd Canadian Parliament was in session from December 5, 2019, to August 15, 2021, with the membership of its Lower House, the House of Commons of Canada, having been determined by the results of the 2019 federal election held on October 21 ...

he introduced one private member bill, Bill C-238, ''An Act to amend the Criminal Code'' (possession of unlawfully imported firearms) which sought to increase the minimum mandatory sentence from one year to five years imprisonment for the offense of possession of a firearm known to be illegally imported to Canada. It was brought to a vote on January 27, 2021, but defeated with NDP and Liberal Party members voting in against. In the

2021 Canadian federal election The 2021 Canadian federal election was held on September 20, 2021, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons to the 44th Canadian Parliament. The Writ of election, writs of election were issued by Governor General of ...

, Saroya narrowly lost his seat to Liberal candidate Paul Chiang. In 2024, it was announced that Saroya was seeking the Conservative nomination for

in the

2025 Canadian federal election The 2025 Canadian federal election was held on April 28, 2025, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons to the 45th Canadian Parliament. Governor General Mary Simon issued the writs of election on March 23, 2025, afte ...

. However, Michael Ma was nominated instead.

Endorsements

In the

2020 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election In 2020, the Conservative Party of Canada held a leadership election held to elect a new party leader. The election was prompted by Andrew Scheer's announcement in December 2019 that he would resign as party leader. The election was conducte ...

he endorsed

Peter MacKay Peter Gordon MacKay (born September 27, 1965), a Canadian lawyer and politician, served as Member of Parliament (Canada), Member of Parliament from 1997 to 2015 and as Minister of Justice (Canada), Minister of Justice and Attorney General (20 ...

. MacKay would go on to lose to

Erin O'Toole Erin Michael O'Toole (born January 22, 1973) is a Canadian lawyer, former military officer and politician who was the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada and the leader of the Official Opposition from 2020 to 2022. O'Toole was elected ...

, who won the leadership of the party on the third ballot. In the

2022 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election In 2022, the Conservative Party of Canada held a leadership election to elect the successor to Erin O'Toole. He was removed on February 2, 2022, as leader by the party's caucus in the House of Commons of Canada by a vote of 73–45. Five can ...

, he endorsed

Pierre Poilievre Pierre Marcel Poilievre (born June 3, 1979) is a Canadian politician who has been the Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Conservative Party since 2022. He was the Member of Parliament (Canad ...

. Poilievre would go on to win the leadership of the Conservative Party on the first ballot, with 70.70% of total votes.

Electoral record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saroya, Bob 1952 births Living people Conservative Party of Canada MPs Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario People from Markham, Ontario Indian emigrants to Canada Canadian people of Punjabi descent 21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada