Jennifer O'Connell

Jennifer O'Connell (born 1983) is a Canadian Liberal politician, who was elected to represent the riding of Pickering—Uxbridge in the House of Commons of Canada in the 2015 federal election.

O'Connell currently serves as the Parliamentary Secretary to Dominic Leblanc, the Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions, and Intergovernmental Affairs (Cybersecurity). Since her election to the House of Commons, O'Connell has served as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance (Youth Economic Opportunity) and to the Minister of Health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

O’Connell has also been a member of several Standing House of Commons Committees, including Finance, Health, National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, National Defence, Transport, and Public Safety and National Security.

Background
Jennifer O'Connell graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from the University of Toronto. In 2006, she won a seat on Pickering City Council, becoming the youngest woman to be elected as a Councillor in the City’s history, defeating incumbent Kevin Ashe. She was elected in 2010 and 2014 as a Durham Region Councillor, increasing her support in each election.

At the time of her election to the House of Commons in 2015, O’Connell was serving as the Deputy Mayor of Pickering.

Municipal Politics
On Council, O’Connell developed a reputation for aggressively opposing perceived wasteful spending by the City of Pickering and the Regional Municipality of Durham. In response to a Councillor’s expenses scandal, she attempted to remove him as the Deputy Mayor and Chairman of the Veridian Board.

O’Connell served on several boards and committees, including the Durham Region Finance and Administration Committee. She spent four years as Chair of Pickering’s Waterfront Committee and Vice-Chair of the Sustainable Pickering Advisory Committee.

Federal Politics
Following her victory in the 2014 municipal election, O’Connell was approached by the Liberal Party of Canada about running as the party’s candidate in the new riding of Pickering-Uxbridge. She won the party’s nomination and defeated Conservative Party of Canada MP, Corneliu Chisu in the 2015 Federal Election.

After taking her seat in the House of Commons, O’Connell served on the House Standing Committee on Finance. In 2018, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed O’Connell as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance with an additional mandate focused on Youth Economic Opportunity in advance of the 2019 federal budget. When Finance Minister Bill Morneau presented the government's budget, it included a separate comprehensive document focused solely on youth economic issues entitled “Investing in the Future of Young Canadians”.

The budget introduced the First Time Home Buyer Incentive, which provides eligible Canadians with the option to finance a portion of their first home purchase through a shared equity mortgage with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. The budget lowered interest rates on student loans and provided an interest-free grace period for recent graduates and those facing health or family-related challenges. It also funded an expansion of work-integrated learning programs to create 40,000 new annual placements, including to the Business/Higher Education Roundtable for 44,000 additional opportunities by 2021.

In 2018, she worked with Conservative MP Erin O’Toole and the Minister of Veterans Affairs, Seamus O’Regan to secure the unanimous support of the House of Commons and the Senate to erect a tribute in Parliament to Lt.-Col. Samuel Sharpe, a sitting MP who enlisted at the outbreak of the First World War. Sharpe committed suicide upon his return after battling “shell shock”, now understood to be the symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

After she was re-elected in the 2019 Federal Election, she was appointed to the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP). At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Prime Minister Trudeau appointed O’Connell as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health, where she appeared on national television and answered questions from the opposition in the House of Commons on the government’s response to the global pandemic.

After she was re-elected in the 2021 Federal Election, she was appointed as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities, Dominic LeBlanc. When LeBlanc became the Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions, and Intergovernmental Affairs in 2023, O’Connell continued as his Parliamentary Secretary, with a specific additional mandate focused on the government’s cybersecurity policy agenda.