Engineers and Engineering Graduates Running in the 2021 Federal Election

On August 15, 2021, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited the Governor General to dissolve Parliament and officially start the election campaign. With this in mind, party leaders and candidates will be seeking to grab the attention of Canadians, and ultimately votes.

Now, more than ever, candidates must explain how their parties will address complex societal, environmental and economic issues while ensuring Canada continues to advance after having experienced the effects of COVID-19.

There are numerous engineering graduates and professional engineers running for office in the upcoming federal election. OSPE believes that having more elected engineers on Parliament Hill will ensure that the voice of the profession is amplified. Engineers are strong leaders, that must ensure that policy is driven by technical knowledge and evidence. Engineers possess powerful analytical and problem-solving skills and must use these to start critical conversations and tackle tough issues.

The following engineers and engineering graduates from the four major parties are running in the federal election on September 20, 2021:

ALBERTA

• Getu Shawile, B.Eng. (Liberal Party, Bow River)

BRITISH COLUMBIA

• Sukh Dhaliwal, P.Eng. (Liberal Party, Surrey-Newton) * seeking re-election
• Doug Kobayashi, B.Eng. (Liberal Party, Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke)

ONTARIO

• Naval Bajaj, M.Eng. (Conservative Party, Brampton East)
• Chandra Arya, B.Eng. (Liberal Party, Nepean)
• Dirka Prout, P.Eng. (NDP, London North Centre)
• Peter DeVita, P.Eng. (NDP, Vaughan Woodbridge)
• Penelope Williams, P.Eng. (Conservative Party, Don Valley East)
• Ghada Melek, B.Eng. (Conservative Party, Mississauga-Streetsville)
• Marilyn Gladu, P.Eng. (Conservative Party, Sarnia-Lambton) * seeking re-election
• Omar Alghabra, P.Eng. (Liberal Party, Mississauga Centre) * seeking re-election
• Uzair Baig, B.Eng. (Green Party, Markham Stouffville)
• Gordon Kubanek, P.Eng. (Green Party, Nepean)

QUEBEC

• Marc Garneau, P.Eng. (Liberal Party, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount) * seeking re-election

Don’t forget register to vote in the election and to read our Party Platform Blog series where we will be extracting information from each official party platform on issues impacting the engineering community.