Jeremy Roberts (born November 10, 1991) is a former MPP

Ottawa West—Nepean Ottawa West—Nepean (french: Ottawa-Ouest—Nepean) is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1997. Geography The district includes the neighbourhoods of Shirleys ...

. He was first elected in the 2018 provincial election. In the

2022 Ontario general election The 2022 Ontario general election will be held on or before June 2, 2022, to elect Members of Provincial Parliament to serve in the 43rd Parliament of Ontario. As of December 2016, Ontario elections are held on the first Thursday in June in th ...

, he was defeated by 908 votes to NDP candidate

Chandra Pasma Chandra Pasma (born c. 1980) is a Canadian politician, who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 2022 provincial election. She represents the district of Ottawa West—Nepean as a member of the Ontario New Democratic Party. ...

and was the only incumbent MPP from the

Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (french: Parti progressiste-conservateur de l'Ontario), often shortened to the Ontario PC Party or simply the PCs, colloquially known as the Tories, is a centre-right political party in Ontario, Canada ...

to be defeated. Roberts credits his decision to enter politics to his brother who has autism. Prior and during his time in office, Roberts was a strong advocate for supporting individuals with autism and raising funds for the

Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario CHEO is a pediatric health-care and research centre located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. CHEO is also a tertiary trauma centre for children in Eastern Ontario, Nunavut, Northern Ontario and the Outaouais region of Quebec and one of only seven Leve ...

. Prior to being elected, Roberts served as a political assistant to former federal

Finance Minister A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

Jim Flaherty James Michael Flaherty (December 30, 1949 – April 10, 2014) was a Canadian politician who served as the federal minister of finance from 2006 to 2014 under Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper. First elected to the Legislative Assembly ...

and MP Dan Albas.

Political activism & career

Roberts has been involved in politics since the

2007 Ontario general election The 2007 Ontario general election was held on October 10, 2007, to elect members ( MPPs) of the 39th Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, Canada. The Liberals under Premier Dalton McGuinty won the election with a majority government, ...

, in which he volunteered for the Progressive Conservatives led by

John Tory John Howard Tory (born May 28, 1954) is a Canadian politician who has served as the 65th and current mayor of Toronto since 2014. After a career as a lawyer, political strategist and businessman, Tory ran as a mayoral candidate in the 200 ...

. He volunteered in the 2011 and

2014 Ontario general election The 2014 Ontario general election was held on June 12, 2014, to elect the members of the 41st Parliament of Ontario. The Liberal Party won a majority of seats in the legislature, allowing its leader, Kathleen Wynne, to continue as premier, movin ...

for the party led by Tim Hudak. His last election in which he volunteered prior to becoming a candidate was the

2015 Canadian federal election The 2015 Canadian federal election held on October 19, 2015, saw the Liberal Party, led by Justin Trudeau, win 184 seats, allowing it to form a majority government with Trudeau becoming the next prime minister. The election was held to elect ...

for the

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

, led by then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper. During the nomination process for the Progressive Conservatives during the

2018 Ontario general election The 2018 Ontario general election was held on June 7, 2018, to elect the 124 members of the 42nd Parliament of Ontario. The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, led by Doug Ford, won 76 of the 124 seats in the legislature and formed a maj ...

Ottawa West-Nepean Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core of ...

, Roberts had initially lost the nomination but interim leader

Vic Fedeli Victor Anthony Fedeli (born August 8, 1956) is a Canadian politician who has been the Ontario minister of economic development, job creation and trade since 2019 and chair of Cabinet since 2018. He is the Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) ...

overturned the nomination of MacGregor. Roberts re-entered the race and was acclaimed the nominee in March. Roberts won the election in Ottawa West-Nepean by 176 votes over the

NDP NDP may stand for: Computing * Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol * Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP * Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language Government * National ...

candidate Chandra Pasma. As there was no recount challenge made by Pasma, Roberts was formally declared to be elected in the riding. On June 26, 2019, Roberts was appointed 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 since June 2018 and leader of the Progressive Conservative (PC) Party since March 2018. He ...

to serve as the Parliamentary Assistant to Minister of Children, Community and Social Services

Todd Smith Todd Smith may refer to: People *Todd Smith (musician), American singer, songwriter and guitarist * Todd Smith (politician), Canadian politician *Todd Smith (singer), American vocalist and member of Selah *Todd Smith (wrestler), American wrestler * ...

for Community and Social Services. On October 6, 2020, Roberts introduced Bill 214 to the Ontario Legislature. If enacted, the bill would enact that, synchronously with New York and

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

should they pass similar laws, Ontario stay on Daylight Time (DT) year-round. On November 25, 2020, the bill was passed with unanimous support in the Legislature.

Personal life

Roberts lives in Ottawa. His mother is a nurse and his father is the manager of the Almonte General Hospital Foundation. He has a younger brother with autism. After completing high school at Canterbury High School, he attended

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning Wo ...

for political science and the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, where he attained his Master of Public Policy from the

Blavatnik School of Government The Blavatnik School of Government is a school of public policy founded in 2010 at the University of Oxford in England. The School was founded following a £75 million donation from a business magnate Leonard Blavatnik, supported by £26 million ...

. Roberts is openly gay, coming out in a column post for the

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris, it was renamed the ''Citizen'' in 1851. The new ...

on March 15, 2022.

Electoral record

Government positions

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Jeremy Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs 21st-century Canadian politicians Politicians from Ottawa Living people 1991 births Canadian LGBT people in provincial and territorial legislatures Gay politicians