Omar Alghabra (; born October 24, 1969) is a Canadian politician who has served as the minister of transport since January 2021. A member of the Liberal Party, he has represented the riding of Mississauga Centre in the House of Commons since the 2015 election. He was previously the member of Parliament (MP) for Mississauga—Erindale from 2006 to 2008. Early life and education Alghabra was born in Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia to a Syrian family. His father, an architect, moved their family to Saudi Arabia in 1968. Alghabra has stated that he remembers living a sheltered life there, attending private school and visiting Syria in the summer. Alghabra completed his high school education at the Dhahran Ahliyya School in Alkhobar. He then moved to Damascus, Syria, where he started his engineering degree at Damascus University. He decided to complete his education in Canada. Alghabra moved to Toronto when he was 19 years old to attend school. He attended grade 13 to obtain his Ontario high school diploma. Later, he completed his Bachelor of Engineering at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute. Alghabra also attended York University, where he graduated with a Master of Business Administration. Professional career Alghabra's first job was at Ainsworth Inc. as a quality assurance supervisor. He later transitioned to sales and worked as the predictive maintenance supervisor. Afterwards, he joined General Electric (GE) as a Six Sigma Black Belt in the industrial service business. He became the global business leader for GE's industrial refurbished parts business. After his political defeat in the 2008 general election, Alghabra joined ENBALA Power Networks as their vice president for corporate development. Later, he worked as an advisor to the COO of the Ontario Energy Board on innovation in the utility sector. Alghabra returned to the Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science after being appointed a distinguished visiting professor. In this role, he also joined Ryerson's start-up incubator DMZ as their executive-in-residence. Alghabra was the president of the Canadian Arab Federation (CAF) in 2004–2005. After Alghabra left CAF, the group made controversial statements, and Alghabra condemned those statements. Political career Alghabra first took office following the 2006 federal election to the 39th Parliament of Canada, then again in 2015 to the 42nd Parliament of Canada. When a MP retired, Alghabra left General Electric to run as the Liberal candidate in the 2006 federal election in the riding of Mississauga—Erindale. He defeated Conservative candidate Bob Dechert