Sheref Sabawy

Sheref Sabawy MPP (Arabic: شريف السبعاوي) is a Canadian politician, who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 2018 provincial election.^[1] He represents the riding of Mississauga—Erin Mills as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario.

Sheref Sabawy MPP
Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries
Incumbent
Assumed office November 5, 2019
Minister	Lisa MacLeod
Member of Parliament for Mississauga—Erin Mills
Incumbent
Assumed office June 7, 2018
Preceded by	first member
Personal details
Born	(1965-07-24) July 24, 1965 (age 59) Alexandria, Egypt
Political party	Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
Residence(s)	Mississauga - Erin Mills, Ontario
Occupation	IT Professional

Sabawy is a member of the Standing Committee on General Government.^[2] He serves as the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism, and Culture Industries.^[3]

Personal life

Sabawy was born in Alexandria, Egypt in 1965. He acquired a bachelor's degree in engineering from Alexandria University and worked as a engineer "for many years" in Egypt^[4] before immigrating to Canada in 1995.^[5] In Canada he faced issues with recognition of his degree due to "Canadian experience" requirements. He is married to Mary Sabawy, a doctor, and they have two sons.^[6] Sabawy is a Coptic Christian.^[5] Before being elected to Parliament, he worked as an IT Professor at George Brown College.^[7]

Politics

In 2015, Sabawy ran for the Liberal Party of Canada nomination for the federal district of Mississauga—Erin Mills.^[7] Sabawy criticized the federal Conservative Party's views towards immigrants, saying “The Conservatives, as well, accept immigrants, but they want us to work at coffee shops and gas stations, not to become doctors or engineers.”^[5] He promised to oppose the Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act.^[5] However he would lose the nomination to future MP Iqra Khalid, winning only 565 votes to Khalid's 943.^[8] Sabawy blamed his loss on a lack of political involvement and support for the Conservatives within the Coptic Canadian community, suggesting he could've been won if he sought out the Conservative nomination.^[8]

In 2017, Sabawy sought the Progressive Conservative nomination for the same riding but in the Legislative Assembly. While seeking the nomination, his past association with the federal Liberal Party became controversial. His opponent in the nomination race, former MP Bob Dechert called Sabawy “the very definition of an opportunist" and accused him and his supporters of being ideologically Liberal.^[7] Dechert would drop out of the race due to concerns about the fairness of the nomination process, leaving Sabawy to become the nominee.^[9] Afterwards, Sabawy refused to backtrack his past criticisms of the federal Conservatives and support for the federal Liberals. He argued that Patrick Brown represented a new and accepting version of the Progressive Conservatives, comparing him to Justin Trudeau.^[7]

In the 2018 Ontario general election, Sabawy was elected to the Legislative Assembly, defeating New Democratic candidate Farina Hassan and Liberal candidate Imran Mian. He was reelected in 2022, defeating the same two candidates. He won a third term in 2025, defeating Liberal candidate Qasir Dar by only 20 votes and 0.05% after a judicial recount.

Electoral record

v t e 2025 Ontario general election: Mississauga—Erin Mills
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Sheref Sabawy	16,665	44.25	+2.10
	Liberal	Qasir Dar	16,645	44.20	+6.72
	New Democratic	Mubashir Rizvi	2,087	5.54	–6.60
	Green	Adriane Franklin	1,077	2.89	–1.39
	New Blue	Michael Bayer	747	1.98	–0.65
	Independent	Michael Matulewicz	309	0.8	N/A
	Independent	Sajid Hussain	121	0.3	N/A
Total valid votes			37,661	99.21	–0.09
Total rejected, unmarked, and declined ballots			297	0.79	+0.09
Turnout			37,958	40.57	–1.13
Eligible voters			93,560
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		–2.31
Source: Elections Ontario[10]

v t e 2022 Ontario general election: Mississauga—Erin Mills
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Sheref Sabawy	15,693	42.15	+0.54
	Liberal	Imran Mian	13,954	37.48	+12.11
	New Democratic	Farina Hassan	4,521	12.14	−15.46
	Green	Michelle Angkasa	1,594	4.28	+1.53
	New Blue	Charles Wroblewski	978	2.63
	Ontario Party	Laura E. Scarangella	495	1.33
Total valid votes			37,235	100.0
Total rejected, unmarked, and declined ballots			262
Turnout			37,497	41.70
Eligible voters			88,733
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		−5.79
Source(s) "Summary of Valid Votes Cast for Each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. 2022. Archived from the original on 2023-05-18. "Statistical Summary by Electoral District" (PDF). Elections Ontario. 2022. Archived from the original on 2023-05-21.

2018 Ontario general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressive Conservative	Sheref Sabawy	19,631	41.61
	New Democratic	Farina Hassan	13,021	27.60
	Liberal	Imran Mian	11,965	25.36
	Green	Libby Yuill	1,296	2.75
	None of the Above	Grzegorz Nowacki	670	1.42
	Libertarian	Pieter Liem	483	1.02
	Freedom	Ben Skura	112	0.24
Total valid votes			47,178	100.0
Turnout				56.05
Eligible voters			84,168
	Progressive Conservative pickup new district.
Source: Elections Ontario[11]