Maryam Monsef not only became the youngest MP elected to represent her federal riding Monday, but she also became the first woman to represent it.
The Liberal contender picked up a seat in Peterborough-Kawartha from former Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro after an election fraud scandal prompted him to vacate it last year.
Before her, six MPs—all men—served the riding. Monsef, 30, also becomes the Ontario riding’s youngest MP.
She won the seat with 5,344 votes over Conservative candidate Michael Skinner.
“Canadians stood up, and they demanded that they be heard,” Monsef said during her victory speech, as quoted in the Peterborough Examiner. “They rejected the easy rhetoric of fear and division.”
The Trent University graduate came to Canada with her widowed mother and two sisters as refugees fleeing the Taliban in 1996. Eleven at the time, the family settled in Peterborough.
Her successful federal win comes over a year after she launched an unsuccessful mayoral bid. She joins 87 women elected into the House of Commons Monday—a new Canadian record.
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