Melissa Lantsman

Melissa Lantsman MP (born April 8, 1984) is a Canadian politician and former public relations executive who serves as the member of Parliament (MP) for Thornhill since 2021. A member of the Conservative Party, she is the party's co-deputy leader and the co-deputy leader of the Official Opposition, serving with Tim Uppal. Lantsman is the first openly gay and first Jewish woman ever elected as a Conservative MP. Upon Pierre Poilievre's election as Conservative Leader, he named Lantsman one of two deputy leaders along with Uppal.

Lantsman previously worked as a communications advisor to several cabinet members in the 28th Canadian Ministry of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. She was a senior advisor to the Progressive Conservative (PC) Party of Ontario and its chief spokesperson during the 2018 Ontario provincial election. Lantsman was previously the national vice president of Public Affairs at Enterprise Canada, a strategic communications firm.

In 2020, upon Peter Kent's retirement from Parliament, Lantsman announced her intention to seek the federal Conservative nomination in Thornhill. She defeated the incumbent PC member of Provincial Parliament (MPP), Gila Martow, to become the riding's CPC candidate on March 17, 2021. Lantsman was elected to Parliament on September 20, 2021, and sworn into office on October 28. Since November of that year, she served as the Opposition critic for transport in the Opposition Shadow Cabinet of Erin O'Toole. Lantsman was elected the vice-chair of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport and Infrastructure. Currently, Lantsman sits on the Special Committee on the Canada–People’s Republic of China Relationship.