Celina Caesar-Chavannes

Celina Caesar-Chavannes MP
Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister
Incumbent
Assumed office December 2, 2015
Preceded by	Paul Calandra
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Whitby
Incumbent
Assumed office October 19, 2015
Preceded by	Pat Perkins
Personal details
Born	(1974-06-24) June 24, 1974 St. David's, Grenada
Political party	Liberal
Spouse(s)	Vidal Chavannes
Children	3 (Desiray, Candice, Johhny)
Residence	Whitby, Ontario
Alma mater	New College, Toronto
Profession	Entrepreneur

Celina R. Caesar-Chavannes MP (born June 24, 1974) is a Canadian Liberal politician, who was elected to represent the riding of Whitby in the House of Commons of Canada in the 2015 federal election. On December 2, 2015, she was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister.

Caesar-Chavannes was born in Grenada, and subsequently emigrated to Canada. She graduated from New College at the University of Toronto, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in biology, followed by an MBA in healthcare management and an executive MBA. She subsequently served on the University of Toronto's governing council, including time as vice chair of the council for the University of Toronto, Scarborough.

Caesar-Chavannes worked as an international research consultant, as well as a lecturer on the need to include marginalized populations in clinical research. She was named Business Entrepreneur of the Year in 2012 by the Toronto Region Board of Trade.

She was the Liberal candidate for the riding of Whitby—Oshawa in the 2014 by-election resulting from the sudden death of former Conservative Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. She finished second to Conservative candidate Pat Perkins. In the general election held the following year, Caesar-Chavannes was again the Liberal nominee in the newly created Whitby riding, this time defeating Perkins in a rematch.

Electoral record

Canadian federal election, 2015: Whitby
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Celina Caesar-Chavannes	29,003	44.95	+30.46	–
	Conservative	Pat Perkins	27,154	42.09	-16.72	–
	New Democratic	Ryan Kelly	6,677	10.35	-11.06	–
	Green	Craig Cameron	1,403	2.17	-2.81	–
	Independent	Jon O'Connor	279	0.43	–	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			64,516	100.0		$233,003.12
Total rejected ballots			235	–	–
Turnout			64,751	–	–
Eligible voters			90,964
Source: Elections Canada

Canadian federal by-election, November 17, 2014: Whitby—Oshawa Death of Jim Flaherty
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Pat Perkins	17,082	49.31	−9.11	–
	Liberal	Celina Caesar-Chavannes	14,083	40.65	+26.54	–
	New Democratic	Trish McAuliffe	2,801	8.08	−14.19	–
	Green	Craig Cameron	500	1.44	−3.45	–
	Independent	John "The Engineer" Turmel	101	0.29		–
	Independent	Josh Borenstein	77	0.22		–
Total valid votes/Expense limit				100.0
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			34,644	31.79	−31.45
Eligible voters			108,969		+6.87
	Conservative hold		Swing		−17.89
Source: