Roman Baber (born August 9, 1980) is a Canadian politician who has represented the riding of York Centre 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 ...

since 2025 as a member of the Conservative Party. Baber was the member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for York Centre from 2018 to 2022. He was elected as a member of the

Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC; ), often shortened to the Ontario PC Party, or simply the PCs, colloquially known as the Tories, is a Centre-right politics, centre-right political party in Ontario, Canada. During its uninterr ...

until he was removed by Premier

Doug Ford Douglas Robert Ford Jr. (born November 20, 1964) is a Canadian politician and businessman who has served as the 26th and current premier of Ontario and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party since 2018. He represents the Toronto rid ...

, the party leader, in January 2021. He sat as an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

until the dissolution of the Legislative Assembly on May 3, 2022. He was a candidate in the 2022 leadership election of the Conservative Party of Canada. In August 2023, Baber was announced as the federal Conservative candidate for York Centre, ultimately winning the seat in the 2025 election.

Early life

Baber was born in

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, to a Jewish family. Two of his maternal great-grandparents were killed in

The Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

, Ukraine, in 1941. He and his family moved to

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

when he was eight, before immigrating to Canada in 1995, when he was 15. Baber's family settled in Toronto in the Bathurst Street and

Sheppard Avenue Sheppard Avenue is an east–west principal arterial road in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The street has two distinct branches near its eastern end, with the original route being a collector road leading to Pickering, Ontario, Pickering via a turno ...

area, an area he represents. He is a lawyer by profession and attended William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate Institute and

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

, before earning his law degree at the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO; branded as Western University) is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thame ...

Political career

Baber was elected as the MPP for York Centre in the 2018 provincial election.

Autism file and Baber Report

In April 2019, Baber was asked by Premier

to review the government's autism program. Baber's review, later termed the Baber Report, was provided anonymously to ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'' after it was shared with the government's Autism Advisory Panel. On July 29, 2019, the Ontario government apologized to the families of

autistic Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing di ...

children for the initial plan and acknowledged that the changes to the autism program announced earlier that year were poorly conceived.

Removal from PC Party

He was a member of the Progressive Conservative Party caucus until January 15, 2021 when Premier

removed him from caucus over his opposition to the province's

lockdown A lockdown () is a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely. The term is used for a prison protocol that us ...

and restrictions during the

COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario The COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario was a viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Canada w ...

, with Baber stating in an open letter to Premier Ford, "the lockdown is deadlier than COVID". Baber was Chair of Parliament's Justice Policy Committee until his removal by a Government motion on February 16, 2021. He did not run for re-election in the 2022 Ontario general election.

Federal Conservative leadership candidate

On March 9, 2022, Baber declared his intent to run in the 2022 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election. Baber ran on a platform of restoring Canada's democracy. Inspired by his ejection from Premier Doug Ford's PC caucus, Baber pledged to allow MPs to vote their conscience and express their personal views without fear of repercussions. He pledged to oppose Quebec's Bill 21 and Bill 96, repeal the Trudeau government's carbon tax, end Canada's equalization program, phase out supply management, and more. On September 10, it was announced that Pierre Poilievre won the leadership on the first ballot with 68.15% of the votes cast. Baber placed fourth, garnering 5.03% of the points and 5.4% of the votes cast.

Electoral record

Federal

Conservative Party of Canada leadership

Ontario

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baber, Roman Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs Independent MPPs in Ontario 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario Politicians from Toronto Living people 1980 births Israeli people of Russian-Jewish descent Soviet emigrants to Israel Soviet emigrants to Canada Canadian people of Russian-Jewish descent Israeli emigrants to Canada Jewish Canadian politicians Lawyers in Ontario Politicians affected by a party expulsion process 21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario Conservative Party of Canada MPs