Jake Sawatzky (born 2000) is a Canadian politician who was elected as the member of Parliament for New Westminster—Burnaby—Maillardville 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 ...

as a member of the

Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada (LPC; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''. and generally sits at the Centrism, ...

Background

Sawatzky was born in 2000 in

Surrey, British Columbia Surrey is a city in British Columbia, Canada. It is located south of the Fraser River on the Canada–United States border. It is a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver regional district and metropolitan area. Mainly a suburban city, Surr ...

. He was named after his grandfather, Jacob Sawatzky, a

Mennonite Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...

refugee who fled Stalinist Ukraine and later became a physics teacher in Canada. Sawatzky earned a bachelor of science in neuroscience from the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

(UBC) in 2024. During the final year of his studies, he ran unsuccessfully for the role vice president external of UBC's Alma Mater Society. While at UBC, Sawatzky was also a member of the

Beta Theta Pi Beta Theta Pi (), commonly known as Beta, is a North American social Fraternities and sororities in North America, fraternity that was founded in 1839 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. One of North America's oldest fraternities, , it consist ...

fraternity. Sawatzky was pursuing a master's degree in counselling psychology at

Trinity Western University Trinity Western University (TWU) is a Private university, private Christian liberal arts university with campuses in both Langley, British Columbia (district municipality), Langley and Richmond, British Columbia, Richmond, British Columbia. The ...

at the time of his election.

Political career

In the 2025 federal election, Sawatzky ran as the Liberal candidate for the riding of New Westminster—Burnaby—Maillardville. He won the seat, unseating longtime NDP member of Parliament (MP)

Peter Julian Peter S. Julian (born April 16, 1962) is a Canadian politician who was a Member of Parliament for the New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2004 to 2025. He represented the ridings of Burnaby—New Westminster from 2004 to 2015 and New Westminste ...

. Alongside Fares Al Soud, Tatiana Auguste, and Amandeep Sodhi, Sawatzky is one of the first four Canadian MPs born in the 21st century.

Philanthropy

Sawatzky is the president of Drop the Puck for Mental Health, an annual hockey event that raises funds for the Canadian Mental Health Association. He also co-founded We Outside, a concert booking agency.

Electoral record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sawatzky, Jake 2000 births Living people 21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada Canadian people of Ukrainian descent Liberal Party of Canada MPs Members of the House of Commons of Canada from British Columbia People from Surrey, British Columbia University of British Columbia alumni