Melissa Lantsman | |
|---|---|
 Lantsman in the House of Commons, 2024 | |
| Deputy Leader of the Opposition | |
| Assumed office September 13, 2022 Serving with Tim Uppal | |
| Leader | Pierre Poilievre Andrew Scheer Pierre Poilievre |
| Preceded by | Luc Berthold |
| Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party | |
| Assumed office September 13, 2022 Serving with Tim Uppal | |
| President | Robert Batherson Stephen Barber |
| Leader | Pierre Poilievre |
| Preceded by | Luc Berthold |
| Shadow Minister of Transport | |
| In office November 9, 2021 – October 12, 2022 | |
| Leader | Erin O'Toole Candice Bergen Pierre Poilievre |
| Preceded by | Stephanie Kusie |
| Succeeded by | Mark Strahl |
| Member of Parliament forThornhill | |
| Assumed office September 20, 2021 | |
| Preceded by | Peter Kent |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1984-04-08)April 8, 1984 (age 41) Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Political party | Conservative (federal) Progressive Conservative (provincial) |
| Education | University of Toronto (BA) University of Ottawa |
| Occupation | Politician, public relations executive, political strategist |
Melissa LantsmanMP (born April 8, 1984) is a Canadian politician and former public relations executive who has served as themember of Parliament (MP) forThornhill since 2021. A member of theConservative Party, she is the party's co-deputy leader and the co-deputy leader of the Official Opposition, serving withTim Uppal.[1] Lantsman is the first openly lesbian and firstJewish woman ever elected as a Conservative MP.[2] UponPierre Poilievre's election as Conservative Leader, he named Lantsman one of two deputy leaders along with Uppal.[3]
Lantsman previously worked as a communications advisor to several cabinet members in the28th Canadian Ministry of Prime MinisterStephen Harper. She was a senior advisor to theProgressive Conservative (PC) Party of Ontario and its chief spokesperson during the2018 Ontario provincial election.[4] Lantsman was previously the national vice president of Public Affairs at Enterprise Canada, a strategic communications firm.[5]
In 2020, uponPeter Kent's retirement from Parliament, Lantsman announced her intention to seek the federal Conservative nomination inThornhill.[6] She defeated the incumbent PCmember of Provincial Parliament (MPP),Gila Martow, to become the riding's CPC candidate on March 17, 2021. Lantsman was elected to Parliament on September 20, 2021, and sworn into office on October 28. Since November of that year, she served as the Opposition critic for transport in theOpposition Shadow Cabinet ofErin O'Toole. Lantsman was elected the vice-chair of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport and Infrastructure. Currently, Lantsman sits on the Special Committee on the Canada–People’s Republic of China Relationship.[7]
Lantsman was born in Toronto in 1984 to aUkrainianJewish family and raised in Thornhill. She is the daughter of Ora and Michael Lantsman, who was fromOdesa; her parents moved to Canada in 1975.[8] Her mother was an accountant and her father was an uncredentialed engineer who worked in the taxi business and ran several pawn shops. She attended a French immersion program atLangstaff Secondary School inYork Region and speaks fluent French in addition to English and Russian. Lantsman has one brother.[9]
She attendedUniversity of Toronto and graduated with an HonoursBachelor of Arts.[9] She later pursued graduate studies at theUniversity of Ottawa andRotman School of Management.[10]
As an adolescent, Lantsman volunteered for Conservative Party candidates in local elections. During the2008 Canadian federal election, she was appointed a senior communications advisor, with the party forming a minority government. Thereafter, she was appointed director of communications for theMinistry of Foreign Affairs under MinistersLawrence Cannon andJohn Baird, serving from 2008 to 2011.
After a brief stint atThe Coca-Cola Company as a senior public affairs advisor, Lantsman returned to government as director of communications forMinister of FinanceJoe Oliver. Following the Harper government's loss in the2015 Canadian federal election, Lantsman returned to the private sector as a senior director forCIBC Capital Markets.[10]
In 2018, Lantsman served as director of communications for Ontario MPPCaroline Mulroney's candidacy for leadership of the Ontario PC Party. After Mulroney's loss, Lantsman joined the PC's campaign for the2018 Ontario general election as its chief spokesperson andwar room director.[11] In this role, she oversaw all press communications and social media releases by the campaign. The election resulted in a PCmajority government, the first since1999, after15 years ofLiberal government in Ontario.[12] After the election, Lantsman joinedHill+Knowlton Strategies, an international public relations strategy firm, at its Toronto office.[11] In 2020, she joined Enterprise Canada, a strategic public relations consultancy, as its vice president for National Public Affairs.[13] She relinquished her partnership in Enterprise in 2021 to focus on her political candidacy. According to public disclosure records, Lantsman is a director of a Toronto-based Venture Fund focused on investing in early-stage companies that prioritizes women founders.[citation needed]
Since 2019, Lantsman has appeared on theCBC News'Power & Politics as well asCTV'sPower Play as a political panellist; she has also hosted a radio show onCFRB 1010 AM. She has sat on the board of theCanadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee, theHot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, Jewish Addiction Community Services (JACS) and theMichael Garron Hospital in Toronto.[14]
After the2019 Canadian federal election, Lantsman and fellow Conservative strategist Jamie Ellerton published an opinion piece inThe Globe and Mail, criticizing then-leaderAndrew Scheer's approach toLGBTQ rights. Lantsman and Ellerton advocated that if the party wants to win, they needed to be more inclusive towards the LGBTQ community.[15][16][17]
In 2020, Thornhill Conservative MPPeter Kent announced that he would not seek re-election at thenext year's federal election.[4] Kent had represented the electoral district since 2008. The riding has Canada's highest proportion of Jewish residents, at 37 per cent.[4]
Lantsman announced her candidacy for the Conservative nomination on November 27, 2020. She was endorsed by former Prime MinisterStephen Harper, Alberta PremierJason Kenney, former federal ministersJohn Baird,Joe Oliver,Pierre Poilievre,Rona Ambrose,Michelle Rempel Garner andLisa Raitt, and incumbent Ontario provincial ministersCaroline Mulroney,Stephen Lecce,Greg Rickford andPaul Calandra. She was also endorsed by federal and provincial Conservative legislators, includingEric Duncan,Scott Aitchison,Logan Kanapathi,Stan Cho,Roman Baber andVijay Thanigasalam.[18]
Lantsman faced the incumbent MPP forThornhill,Gila Martow, in the nomination contest.[18] She participated in a series of nomination debates with Martow between December 2020 and March 2021.[18] On April 3, 2021, Lantsman defeated Martow in the nomination election and was certified as the Conservative candidate for Thornhill.[19] She faced Liberal candidate Gary Gladstone in the2021 Canadian federal election on September 20 and, per preliminary results, won the seat with 51.3 per cent of the vote.[20]
Lantsman was sworn into the44th Canadian Parliament on October 26, 2021. On November 9, she was appointed byErin O'Toole to serve as theShadowMinister of Transport.[21]
After theHouse of Commons unanimously adopted a motion to banconversion therapy,[22] Lantsman tweeted that "Some days are exceptionally good days".[23]
On February 16, 2022, in response to a question raised by Lantsman regarding the usage of theEmergencies Act,Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau replied, "Conservative Party members can stand with people who wave swastikas."[24] Lantsman responded, "I am a strong Jewish woman and a member of this House and the descendant of Holocaust survivors. I have never been made to feel less except for today when the Prime Minister accused me of standing with swastikas. I think he owes me an apology. I'd like an apology."[25] Trudeau did not respond to Lantsman's request.[26]
On February 27,Candice Bergen appointed Lantsman to serve in the Conservative Party leadership team as Chair of Outreach in addition to her role asShadowMinister of Transport.[27]
After the September2022 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election, new Opposition LeaderPierre Poilievre named Lantsman co-deputy leader along with Alberta MPTim Uppal.[28]
In January 2023, Lantsman called for an emergency debate in Parliament on the rise in violence in the Toronto area, on the transit system, and across Canada.[9]
In May 2023, Lantsman advocated that Canada should isolate Uganda after they passed anti-LGBTQ laws.[29] She also attended the raising of the pride flag onParliament Hill.[30] During the Conservative Party policy convention, Lantsman defended the delegates' ability to bring anti-transgender resolution up for debate by arguing that it is a grassroot party and it was not the main priorities of the party.[31]
Melissa Lantsman is considered pro-Israel.[32] In March 2024, NDP MPHeather McPherson proposed a motion that Canada recognize theState of Palestine; Lantsman opposed the motion.[33] Lantsman called for Canada to suspend funding toUNRWA. In response, protesters put posters on her office reading "Blood on your hands".[32] Lantsman also said UNRWA was "an agency whose members actively participated onOctober 7, 2023".
Lantsman has advocated for "more approvals and less government gatekeepers" in housing construction as a solution to theCanadian housing crisis. Lantsman has also advocated for tying federal government funding to municipalities' housing unit approval rates.[34]
After Poilievre made comments that transgender women should not be permitted access to women’s bathrooms in 2024, Lantsman defended his comments toThe Hill Times by stating they were "common sense" and were supported by the caucus.[35][36]
Lantsman was re-elected in the 2025 federal election, winning the most raw votes and the highest share of the vote in the Thornhill riding's history with 66.4%.[citation needed]
| 2025 Canadian federal election:Thornhill | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Conservative | Melissa Lantsman | 44,419 | 66.40 | +14.68 | ||||
| Liberal | Liane Kotler | 20,873 | 31.20 | –4.86 | ||||
| New Democratic | William McCarty | 833 | 1.24 | –4.73 | ||||
| People's | Amir Hart | 440 | 0.73 | –3.87 | ||||
| Green | Dominic Piotrowski | 353 | 0.50 | –1.14 | ||||
| Total valid votes/expense limit | 66,918 | |||||||
| Total rejected ballots | 663 | |||||||
| Turnout | 67,581 | 68.94 | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 97,300 | |||||||
| Conservativenotional hold | Swing | +9.61 | ||||||
| Source:Elections Canada[37][38] | ||||||||
| 2021 Canadian federal election:Thornhill | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Conservative | Melissa Lantsman | 25,687 | 51.3% | -3.26% | $105,101.06 | |||
| Liberal | Gary Gladstone | 18,168 | 36.3% | +0.88% | $92,712.82 | |||
| New Democratic | Raz Razvi | 3,041 | 6.1% | -0.38% | $4,940.19 | |||
| People's | Samuel Greenfield | 2,322 | 4.6% | – | $9,751.81 | |||
| Green | Daniella Mikanovsky | 844 | 1.7% | -1.29% | $0.00 | |||
| Total valid votes/expense limit | 50,062 | 99.2 | 0.28 | $114,997.02 | ||||
| Total rejected ballots | 390 | 0.77 | -0.31 | |||||
| Turnout | 50,452 | 58.8 | -4.82 | |||||
| Eligible voters | 85,739 | 76.06% | 0.66% | |||||
| Conservativehold | Swing | -4.14 | ||||||
| Source:Elections Canada[39] | ||||||||
Lantsman is gay and was married in 2017.[40] She lives with severeCrohn's disease.[41] She speaksEnglish,French andRussian and is a fan of theToronto Blue Jays.[42][43]
Conservatives have a plan that we are going to tie federal funding to municipalities increasing their approval by 15%. Those who do it will get a bonus - a building bonus. Those who do not will get fined. And however they do - whatever housing units they put forward - we just want to see houses built, and we've got a plan to build in terms of results, in terms of actual places that people can live in. So we're fine with municipalities and provinces making decisions about the kinds of housing for their own communities. We just want to see more approvals and less gatekeepers in the way.
Media related toMelissa Lantsman at Wikimedia Commons