Omar Alghabra

Omar Alghabra (; born October 24, 1969) is a Saudi-born Syrian-Canadian politician who served as Canada's minister of transport from 2021 to 2023. A member of the Liberal Party, he represented the riding of Mississauga Centre in the House of Commons from 2015 election until 2025. He was previously the member of Parliament (MP) for Mississauga—Erindale from 2006 to 2008.

Early life and education Alghabra was born in Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia to a Syrian family. His father, an architect, moved their family to Saudi Arabia in 1968. Alghabra has stated that he remembers living a sheltered life there, attending private school and visiting Syria in the summer.

Alghabra also attended York University, where he graduated with a Master of Business Administration. Afterwards, he joined General Electric (GE) as a Six Sigma Black Belt in the industrial service business. He became the global business leader for GE's industrial refurbished parts business.

After his political defeat in the 2008 general election, Alghabra joined ENBALA Power Networks as their vice president for corporate development. Later, he worked as an advisor to the COO of the Ontario Energy Board on innovation in the utility sector.

Political career Alghabra entered federal politics after MP Carolyn Parrish retired, with him running as the Liberal candidate in the 2006 federal election in the riding of Mississauga—Erindale. He defeated Charles Sousa for the party's nomination, and left General Electric to run in the federal election. He defeated Conservative candidate Bob Dechert by 3,328 votes. Alghabra was later defeated in the 2008 and 2011 federal elections. However, he was then elected in the 2015 federal election in a political comeback, becoming the Liberal MP for Mississauga Centre. He would be re-elected in 2019 and 2021.

Alghabra served as parliament secretary to the minister of foreign affairs (consular affairs) from 2015 to 2018 and parliament secretary to the minister of international trade diversification from 2018 to 2019. He was also sworn in as a member of the Privy Council in February 2020. In the Cabinet reshuffle on January 12, 2021, Alghabra became the transport minister, succeeding Marc Garneau.

Following a motion condemning Islamophobia amidst death threats to Muslim MPs, Alghabra stated that his primary concern was his staff who process these messages. He continued that it is important to have a conversation about Islamophobia and that he purposely does not delete comments received on his Facebook page. Alghabra attributes backlash against the motion to a campaign of misinformation and ignorance. He worked on the cases on John Ridsdel, Joshua Boyle and helped assisting Canadians stranded by Hurricane Irma in the Caribbean. Alghabra also announced that Ottawa will match funds raised during the Canada Strong campaign launched to raise $1.5 million for those who lost loved ones when the Ukrainian passenger plane was shot down by the Iranian military.

Minister of Transport Alghabra became Minister of Transport on January 12, 2021, following the resignation of industry minister Navdeep Bains, resulting in a Cabinet shuffle.

On July 25, 2023, Alghabra announced he was stepping down from cabinet and would not run in the 2025 election.

Return to the backbenches In January 2025, Alghabra, alongside International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen went on a Middle Eastern tour to discuss regional issues after the fall of the Assad regime the previous December. The trip included the first Canadian delegatory visit to the Syria–Turkey border area and meetings on Syria and the Middle East in Qatar with the minister of state for international cooperation, in Turkey with the deputy foreign minister, as well as a meeting in Saudi Arabia with the minister of state for foreign affairs and the secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council. On February 7, 2025, Alghabra was appointed Special Envoy for Syria.

Electoral record