Member of Parliament, Ontario
Honourable Bardish Chagger is a Canadian politician who is the current Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister of Small Business and Tourism and the Member of Parliament for the riding of Waterloo. Ms. Chagger was elected as a Liberal member of the House of Commons of Canada in the 2015 Canadian election and was sworn in on November 4, 2015, as Minister of Small Business and Tourism.
Ms. Chagger assumed the responsibilities of Leader of the Government in the House of Commons on August 19, 2016, in addition to the responsibilities she already held as Minister of Small Business and Tourism. Ms. Chagger was appointed as the first female Leader of the Government in the House of Commons by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Ms. Chagger’s parents immigrated to Waterloo from India in the 1970’s. Her father, Mr. Gurminder “Gogi” Chagger, was active in Liberal Party politics and an admirer of Mr. Pierre Trudeau, and Ms. Chagger’s first involvement in politics came in the 1993 federal election as a 13-year-old volunteer for Mr. Andrew Telegdi’s successful campaign in Waterloo. She attended the University of Waterloo with aspirations to become a nurse, but she subsequently became an executive assistant to Mr. Telegdi, who represented Waterloo in the House of Commons for the Liberals from 1993 to 2008. Ms. Chagger graduated from the University of Waterloo with a bachelor’s degree in science. After Telegedi’s defeat in 2008, Chagger became a director of special events for the Kitchener-Waterloo Multicultural Centre.