Andrea Khanjin | |
Honorific-Prefix: | The Honourable |
Honorific-Suffix: | MPP |
Office1: | Minister of Environment, Conservation and Parks |
Term Start1: | September 22, 2023 |
Predecessor1: | David Piccini |
Premier1: | Doug Ford |
Office2: | Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of the Intergovernmental Affairs |
Term Start2: | June 29, 2022 |
Minister2: | Doug Ford |
Parliament3: | Ontario Provincial |
Term Start3: | June 7, 2018 |
Predecessor3: | Riding established |
Riding3: | Barrie—Innisfil |
Party: | Progressive Conservative |
Birth Date: | 1987 12, mf=yes |
Birth Place: | Moscow, Soviet Union |
Residence: | Innisfil, Ontario |
Occupation: | Member of Provincial Parliament |
Alma Mater: | University of Ottawa |
Andrea Daria Khanjin[1] (born December 27, 1987, in Moscow)[2] is a Canadian politician who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario since the 2018 general election representing the riding of Barrie-Innisfil.[3] [4] [5] She has been the longest serving Deputy Government House Leader[6] for the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario since 2019. She also served as the Deputy Government Whip, and as the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Environment, Conservation and Parks during the 42nd Provincial Parliament.[7] Khanjin is the first Jewish woman to be a PC cabinet minister. In September 2023 she was promoted to cabinet as the Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks.
Khanjin ran as the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario candidate in the 2018 Ontario general election for the riding of Barrie-Innisfil, won with 22,121 votes, and defeated the Liberal incumbent by 16, 576 votes. She was re-elected in 2022 Ontario general election.
Following her election in 2018, during Khanjin's first term, she served as a member of Finance and Economic Affairs, Estimates, and Government Agencies Committees. During this term she also successfully introduced a private member's bill and co-sponsored two other bills. On June 5, 2019, she introduced an Act to proclaim the Provincial Day of Action on Litter as her private member's bill;[8] on March 1, 2020, Khanjin and Cuzzetto introduced an Act to proclaim Sickle Cell Disease Awareness Day and Thalassemia Awareness Day,[9] and; she co-sponsored an Act to proclaim the month of August as Emancipation Month on December 8, 2021.[10] All of these bills proceeded and received Royal Assents.
To raise awareness of the importance to a clean environment of not littering, Andrea Khanjin introduced an Act to proclaim the Provincial Day of Action on Litter every second Tuesday in May in each year as her first private member's bill.
Ontario marks the First Provincial Day of Action on Litter at the Innisfil Beach Park in the Town of Innisfil on May 12, 2020.[11]
On June 3, 2021, Bill 255, Sickle Cell Disease Awareness Day and Thalassemia Awareness Day Act, 2021 of Khanjin and Cuzzetto received royal assent. This bill proclaims that June 19 as Sickle Cell Disease Awareness Day and May 8 as Thalassemia Awareness Day in Ontario would increase awareness of these blood disorders in our province and dedicate a day to support individuals who have sickle cell disease or thalassemia and their families.
Andrea Khanjin co-sponsored Bill 75, Emancipation Month Act, 2021 proclaiming August as Emancipation Month. Ontario pays tribute to the important contributions and leadership that the Black communities have made and continue to make in Ontario as a major part of the vibrant social, economic, political and cultural fabric of our province.