Introduction
Babar "Bob" Saroya, MP (born February 3, 1952) is a Canadian politician, who was elected to represent the riding of Markham—Unionville in the House of Commons of Canada in the Canadian federal election, 2015.
His election in 2015 was unique, Markham—Unionville was originally held by John McCallum who Saroya came close to upsetting in 2011. After re-distribution, McCallum chose to run in the neighbouring riding of Markham—Thornhill. Saroya's election was considered to be an anomaly because he was the only candidate in Canada to pick up a seat from the Liberals.
Saroya immigrated to Canada from India in 1974. He eventually went on to own several restaurants and became a Sales Director with a multi-billion dollar Canadian company before first running for office in 2008.
Electoral record
| Canadian federal election, 2015: Markham—Unionville | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ∆% | Expenditures | |||
| Conservative | Bob Saroya | 24,604 | 49.4 | +3.6 | – | |||
| Liberal | Bang-Gu Jiang | 21,596 | 43.3 | +9.6 | – | |||
| New Democratic | Colleen Zimmerman | 2,512 | 5.1 | -11.4 | – | |||
| Green | Elvin Kao | 1,120 | 2.2 | -0.8 | – | |||
| Total valid votes/Expense limit | 49,839 | 100.0 | $217,997.03 | |||||
| Total rejected ballots | 246 | – | ||||||
| Turnout | 50,085 | 60.7% | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 82,534 | |||||||
| Conservative notional hold | Swing | -6.0% | ||||||
| Source: Elections Canada | ||||||||
| Canadian federal election, 2011: Markham—Unionville | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ∆% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | John McCallum | 19,429 | 38.9 | -16.0 | ||||
| Conservative | Bob Saroya | 17,734 | 35.5 | +5.3 | ||||
| New Democratic | Nadine Hawkins | 10,897 | 21.8 | +11.6 | ||||
| Green | Adam Poon | 1,597 | 3.2 | -1.0 | ||||
| Libertarian | Allen Small | 231 | 0.5 | – | ||||
| Total valid votes | 49,888 | 100.0 | ||||||
| Total rejected ballots | 290 | 0.6 | – | |||||
| Turnout | 50,178 | 55.1 | +2.8 | |||||
| Eligible voters | 91,057 | – | – | |||||
| Canadian federal election, 2008: Etobicoke North | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ∆% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Kirsty Duncan | 15,244 | 48.6 | -13.0 | $54,827 | |||
| Conservative | Bob Saroya | 9,436 | 30.1 | +7.8 | $64,024 | |||
| New Democratic | Ali Naqvi | 4,940 | 15.7 | +5.1 | $35,653 | |||
| Green | Nigel Barriffe | 1,460 | 4.7 | +2.1 | $2,242 | |||
| Marxist–Leninist | Anna Di Carlo | 300 | 1.0 | +0.4 | ||||
| Total valid votes/Expense limit | 31,380 | 100.0 | $79,011 | |||||
| Total rejected ballots | 214 | 0.68 | ||||||
| Turnout | 31,594 | |||||||