Melissa Lantsman
- Born
- April 8, 1984 — Toronto
- Family
- Married to Lauren in 2017
- Education
- Honours Bachelor of Arts, University of Toronto; graduate studies at the University of Ottawa and Rotman School of Management
- Career
- Public relations executive
- Political Experience
- Communications advisor to cabinet members in the 28th Canadian Ministry of Prime Minister Stephen Harper; senior advisor to the Progressive Conservative (PC) Party of Ontario; chief spokesperson during the 2018 Ontario provincial election; MP for Thornhill since 2021; co-deputy leader of the Conservative Party; co-deputy leader of the Official Opposition
- Property
- Director of a Toronto-based Venture Fund focused on investing in early-stage companies that prioritizes women founders
- Notable
- First openly lesbian and first Jewish woman ever elected as a Conservative MP; speaks English, French and Russian; lives with a severe form of Crohn's disease
Based on publicly available information — may contain inaccuracies
Business & Financial Interests
Before entering politics, Melissa Lantsman had a career in public relations and communications. She was the Vice President of Public Affairs at Enterprise Canada, a strategic communications firm. She also worked as a senior advisor and director of communications for several high-profile politicians at both the provincial and federal levels. Lantsman was also a regular political commentator on television news programs, providing analysis on current events.
Key Relationships & Connections
Melissa Lantsman has well-documented ties to several prominent figures within the Conservative movement. She served as a key spokesperson and advisor for Stephen Harper's Conservative government and worked on campaigns for figures like former Finance Minister Joe Oliver and Ontario's Caroline Mulroney. She was also reportedly the head of communications for Doug Ford's successful 2018 Ontario PC Party campaign. More recently, she served as a co-chair for Pierre Poilievre's successful campaign to become the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.
Public Controversies
In February 2022, during the "Freedom Convoy" protests, Lantsman, who is Jewish, criticized Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the House of Commons for his use of the Emergencies Act and his rhetoric towards the protestors. In response, Trudeau accused the Conservative Party, including Lantsman, of standing with "people who wave swastikas." The comment was widely condemned by members of the opposition and some Jewish community groups as inappropriate and divisive, leading to calls for an apology, which the Prime Minister did not offer directly.
Where Melissa falls on key policy spectrums
Your Money
People & Society
How We're Governed
Land & Community
Melissa Lantsman won with 44,419 votes (66.4%)
Total votes cast: 66,918
How does Melissa Lantsman's voting record line up with your values?
Mr. Speaker, when Canadians know that nothing she is doing is working and half the people sitting beside her are saying the same thing out loud, it stops being opposition criticism and it starts being a pattern with the minister. She cannot handle the hard questions from across the aisle. She needs to get a grip on what is actually happening in her ministry. The minister refused to answer a
Mr. Chair, that was not my question. The answer for the minister is that one trillion dollars left Canada. According to RBC, that is the single largest sustained capital outflow in Canada's history. For a country of 40 million people, just to put it into context for those watching at home, that is $25,000 for every person. Does the minister find that acceptable?
Mr. Chair, what is true is that we have the only shrinking economy in the G7, and the answer is that it is 30% down. If he were truly interested in investing per worker, he would do so, and it has fallen by nearly a third. Stats Canada projects that non-residential capital spending across all industries will grow by less than 2% going forward. Does this sound to the minister like an economy that
Mr. Chair, I will ask the minister the same question again because he did not answer my question. Under his leadership as the minister of industry, during the 10-year period that he was at the cabinet table, a trillion dollars of investment outflow left this country. Does he find that acceptable?
Mr. Chair, I can see that the minister does not want to admit it or answer my question, so I will talk about foreign direct investment. The minister frequently celebrates Canada's foreign direct investment numbers, but he knows, as finance minister, that all of those numbers are not created equal. Can he tell the House what share of Canada's inbound foreign direct investment over the last decade
I am going to split my time, Mr. Chair. I thank the minister for being here tonight. Before he presents himself as Canada's economic rescuer, Canadians deserve an accounting. He sat at the cabinet table as industry minister while the investment climate deteriorated in this country. The policies that drove capital away were his policies, so I will ask him quite candidly if he did anything wrong.
Mr. Chair, I will answer the question for the minister, since he does not want to. The answer is 45%, nearly half. Can the minister explain to Canadians, as the finance minister, what a merger and acquisition actually means in that context? It does not mean a new factory. People at home will know that. It does not mean a new research centre, and it does not mean a new job. What does it mean?
Mr. Chair, I will put it into context. For every dollar of foreign investment that came into Canada during that decade, two dollars left this country. It is not because of global issues. It is not because of the tariffs. Tariffs were not an issue then. It is a domestic policy failure that the minister cannot admit he was a part of. Does he accept responsibility, any responsibility, for his role
Mr. Chair, the Minister of Finance knows, and if he does not know, he can ask the officials sitting right in front of him, that the true measure of Canada's health is the domestic investment. Canadians investing in Canada, businesses investing per worker, is the single best indicator of whether Canadian firms are growing and becoming more productive. He knows this. He is not telling the House
Mr. Chair, that answer is condescending and it does not show that he, as finance minister, understands what foreign direct investment is. It means a foreign company buying a Canadian one. Strategic decisions are moved abroad. The intellectual property moves abroad. The profits move abroad. He knows that as the finance minister. Again, he is treating those in the House like we are stupid. C.D.
Mr. Chair, does the finance minister know that the single biggest hurtle to investment decisions in this country right now is not tariffs? His own business council, the Business Council of Canada, says it is Canada's own domestic regulatory burden that is in the way. It is government that is in the way of those investment dollars. Does he agree with any of that?
Mr. Chair, that is all true, but it does not answer my question. RBC analyzed the full decade from 2015 to 2024, years during which the minister held senior cabinet responsibilities. Can he tell the House the net investment figure in that period? How many net dollars left Canada under his leadership?
Prime Minister Mr. Chair, I am going to start off where I left off. Theannounced a plan to attract $1 trillion of new investment after that former industry minister watched $1 trillion leave this country on his watch. Can the minister admit to Canadians that this is not ambition, but damage control? He is trying to replace what his last government lost. Is that true?
Mr. Speaker, every week Canadians get up to another headline about the immigration minister botching her job. Corruption runs rampant in her department. Criminals walk away with discount sentences. She is issuing 215,000 new work permits while Canadian kids cannot find jobs, with no plan to deport the temporary residents who will not leave. Today, we learn that she is covering the premium health