Rahim Jaffer

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Rahim Jaffer (Arabic: رحيم جعفر‎) (born December 15, 1971) is the Conservative Party of Canada Member of Parliament for the Edmonton—Strathcona district of Alberta. Born in Kampala, Uganda and of Pakistani origin, he originally won his seat as a member of the Reform Party of Canada (later the Canadian Alliance and then merged with the Progressive Conservatives to form the Conservative Party). Jaffer is a Muslim of the Ismaili faith, and was the only Muslim member of the Canadian House of Commons from 2000 to 2004. He graduated from the University of Ottawa and is fluently bilingual.

Jaffer strongly supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, arguing that Iraqis longed to live in freedom and rid themselves of Saddam Hussein. In making this argument, he drew attention to the fact that his own family endured oppression under Idi Amin.

Jaffer is known for a much-publicized 2001 incident in which he claimed to have done a radio interview. The interview was actually done by an aide, Matthew Johnston, who impersonated Jaffer, as Jaffer was opening his new Timothy's World Coffee shop down the street at the same time as the interview. Jaffer subsequently apologized publicly and in the House of Commons for this falsehood, and was suspended from his caucus position for several months. The incident provided much fodder for the satirical current affairs show This Hour Has 22 Minutes, most notably when Rick Mercer performed a rap based on Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady", with the lyrics "Will the real Rahim Jaffer please stand up, please stand up?". Despite election opponents' occasional attempts to leverage this incident, he has been relected in both the 2004 and 2006 elections.

Following the 2006 election, Jaffer was named as chair of the Conservative caucus by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

[edit] Electoral record

Canadian federal election, 2006
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Rahim Jaffer	22,009	41.7%
	New Democratic Party	Linda Duncan	17,153	32.5%
	Liberal	Andy Hladyshevsky	9,391	17.8%
	Green	Cameron Wakefield	3,139	5.9%
	Progressive Canadian Party	Michael Fedeyko	582	1.1%
	Marijuana	Dave Dowling	390	0.7%
	Marxist-Leninist	Kevan Hunter	106	0.2%
Total valid votes			52,770	99.72%
Total rejected ballots			148	0.28%
Turnout			52,918	70.6%

Canadian federal election, 2004
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Rahim Jaffer	19,089	39.40%		$67,449
	Liberal	Debby Carlson	14,057	29.01%		$67,910
	New Democratic Party	Malcolm Azania	11,535	23.80%		$46,100
	Green	Cameron Wakefield	3,146	6.49%		$2,353
	Marijuana	Dave Dowling	519	1.07%
	Marxist-Leninist	Kevan Hunter	103	0.21%		$26
Total valid votes			48,449	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			150	0.31%
Turnout			48,599	65.66%

Canadian federal election, 2000
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Canadian Alliance	Rahim Jaffer	23,463	42.00%		$57,365
	Liberal	Jonathan Dai	17,816	31.89%		$48,430
	New Democratic Party	Hélène Narayana	8,256	14.78%		$25,883
	Progressive Conservative	Gregory Toogood	5,047	9.03%		$4,252
	Marijuana	Ken Kirk	814	1.45%		$149
	Canadian Action	Kesa Rose Semenchuk	299	0.53%		$1,485
	Marxist-Leninist	Kevan Hunter	164	0.29%		$275
Total valid votes			48,449	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			150	0.31%
Turnout			48,599	65.66%

Canadian federal election, 1997
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Reform	Rahim Jaffer	20,605	41.30%		$58,003
	Liberal	Ginette Rodger	17,654	35.38%		$58,244
	New Democratic Party	Jean McBean	7,251	14.53%		$42,936
	Progressive Conservative	Edo Nyland	3,614	7.24%		$10,183
	Green	Karina Gregory	406	0.81%		$520
	Natural Law	Maury Shapka	153	0.30%
	No affiliation	Naomi Rankin	115	0.23%		$1,732
	Canadian Action	J. Alex Ford	92	0.18%		$845
Total valid votes			49,890	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			101	0.20%
Turnout			49,991	62.74%

[edit] External links

Preceded by: Andy Savoy, Liberal	Chair, Government Caucus in the Parliament of Canada 2006-present	Succeeded by: (incumbent)
Preceded by: Norman Doyle, Conservative	Chair, Conservative Caucus in the Parliament of Canada 2006-present	Succeeded by: (incumbent)

Preceded by: Hugh Hanrahan, Reform	Member of Parliament from Edmonton—Strathcona 1997-present	Succeeded by: (incumbent)

	Alberta Caucus serving in the 39th Canadian Parliament.
Senators	Tommy Banks (Lib), Joyce Fairbairn (Lib), Daniel Hays (Lib), Elaine McCoy (PC), Grant Mitchell (Lib), Claudette Tardif (Lib)
Members of Parliament	Diane Ablonczy (Con), Rona Ambrose (Con), Rob Anders (Con), Leon Benoit (Con), Blaine Calkins (Con), Rick Casson (Con), Ken Epp (Con), Peter Goldring (Con), Art Hanger (Con), Stephen Harper (Con), Laurie Hawn (Con), Rahim Jaffer (Con), Brian Jean (Con), Jason Kenney (Con), Mike Lake (Con), Ted Menzies (Con), Rob Merrifield (Con), Bob Mills (Con), Deepak Obhrai (Con), Jim Prentice (Con), James Rajotte (Con), Lee Richardson (Con), Monte Solberg (Con), Kevin Sorenson (Con), Brian Storseth (Con), Myron Thompson (Con), Chris Warkentin (Con), John Williams (Con)