Arpan Khanna (born July 9, 1990) is a Canadian politician who was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in a by-election on June 19, 2023. He represents Oxford as a member of the Conservative Party of Canada. Previously, he was a lawyer.
Background
Khanna was born in Brampton, Ontario to immigrants from Punjab, India. He graduated from the University of Western Ontario. Khanna is a practicing lawyer. Until January 2024, Khanna sat on the board of governors of the Robert Land Academy, a private boarding school.
In 2022, he and his family moved to Woodstock to win an election.
Career
During the Harper government, Khanna was a ministerial staffer for Jason Kenney. He was also an outreach staffer to Tim Hudak.
In 2023, Khanna was named 12 to watch on Canada's rapidly rising right by the National Post and in 2024, he was named one of the Top 25 most influential Conservatives in federal politics by the Hill Times.
2019 federal election
Khanna unsuccessfully challenged Liberal incumbent Ruby Sahota in Brampton North. During the campaign, a 2010 tweet resurfaced in which Khanna used a homophobic slur. He apologized unequivocally for his remarks, noting he was a teenager at the time the comments were posted.
2022 leadership race
Khanna served as the Ontario co-chair for Pierre Poilievre's successful leadership bid. Subsequently, he became the national outreach chair for the Conservative Party.
2023 Oxford by-election
In 2023, Khanna decided to run for the Conservative Nomination for the Riding of Oxford to succeed then-Member of Parliament, Dave MacKenzie. In February 2023, MacKenzie criticized Khanna for promoting a quote implying that Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre endorsed him for the nomination and the party was supporting Khanna's candidacy. MacKenzie believed it a violation of the party nomination rules based on the Conservative's code of conduct. When another candidate, Gerrit Van Dorland backed by anti-abortion groups, was disqualified by the Conservatives, Khanna, disagreed with the decision on social media and asked the party to reverse the decision. In April 2023, Khanna defeated two other candidates such as MacKenzie's daughter, Deb Tait, a Woodstock city-county councillor. In January 19, 2024, it was reported that Canadian Security Intelligence Service was probing the nomination race due to reports that the Government of India interfered in favour of Khanna.
MacKenzie, who cited concerns in the leadership race announced his endorsement for local realtor, David Hilderley, who was the Liberal candidate. This led the Conservatives to deploy their entire caucus to campaign for Khanna. On June 19, Khanna was elected to the riding, defeating candidates such as Hilderley. After the race, operatives from the Conservatives, accused the Liberals of racism due to them emphasizing Hilderley local ties to riding while contrasting that Khanna was an outsider; the Liberals argued that the Conservatives were deflecting.
2025 federal election
Khanna along side fellow caucus member Tim Uppal are responsible for the party outreach towards minority communities. During the 2025 federal election, The Hill Times reported potential nomination candidates such as Keshav Mandadi, a former University of Toronto sessional instructor who was seeking the party nomination for the riding of Mississauga East—Cooksville, said that Khanna and Pram Gill, a former Ontario Progressive Conservative cabinet minister, influence nomination decisions in Ontario ridings. Mandadi later elaborated that he was told to direct donations to Khanna, in which he did by sending $20,000 to the Oxford Conservative Association, as a way of getting an appointment from Khanna to ensure that the nomination race was fair.
Electoral record
References
