
As federal MPs return to Parliament on September 15, 2025, citizens of Caledon have a good reason to feel proud. Ruby Sahota, formerly the MP for Brampton North since 2015, is now the MP for the newly created riding of Brampton North-Caledon. When Parliament sits on September 15, 2025, she will be representing Canada as the Secretary of State – Combating Crime.
I had the honour of interviewing Ruby Sahota recently, just before she moved from her old office to fresh headquarters In her new riding. I have interviewed many politicians over the years from Prime Ministers to Mayors to Trustees, and the measure of a person is often revealed in that first meeting. I was outside her office when an entire family of her constituents poured out the door – grandparents. parents, children, all smiling and still engaged in conversation with her.
She was still actively listening, fully engaged in their dialogue. Rarely do you meet a genuine representative of the people – completely empathetic, involved in their concerns, and fully committed to addressing their needs. That was my first impression in meeting MP Ruby Sahota. Our interview only reinforced that first impression.
My questions ranged from getting to know Caledon, to her new role in Parliament, to her goals for the term, to the legacy she hoped to leave her children. I opened by asking her jokingly (alluding to a famous Russian novel) if she had been appointed the Secretary of State for Crime and Punishment because she was from Brampton. She laughed, “Ah, Dostoevsky, I had to read that in law school.” Unpretentious and versed in the classics, is a winning combination.
As a lawyer, and with her background in Political Science, MP Sahota is more than ready to be combatting crime. She is looking forward to meeting with federal, provincial, and municipal colleagues to discuss issues of public safety and justice.
We then switched from Brampton to Caledon. “I am very excited to be representing Caledon,” she stated, adding that she was getting to be familiar with a lot of new issues: agricultural concerns, meeting dairy farmers, development issues, getting to know Southfields. She added that she was looking forward to dragon boat races on Heart Lake.
While engaging with the communities in her new riding, MP Sahota also acknowledged that she would be devoting a lot of time to her new role as Secretary of State. The crime in Brampton is a local issue, but she clearly stated that globally, “The rules have changed.” Locally, gangs would fight over turf and deal in their own territories, Globally. the criminal organizations now network, sharing supply lines, technology and access to weapons. Cars, drugs, weapons, smash and grab theft, and human trafficking still remain the top issues, However, if we follow the money, we discover that these criminal organizations are being funded primarily by the profits made from auto-theft.
She said the gangs now have better technology, weapons and more money than most of our law enforcement agencies. This means our police forces are going to need more training and better tools to combat both local and global crime. This costs money, so taxpayers will need to recognize that seriously combatting crime will become a major budget item for both federal and provincial governments.
My final question was about the legacy she would like to leave her children when they look back at her role as a person and an Honourable Member of Parliament. Ruby Sahota paused briefly and said, “I would like to be remembered as accessible and willing to listen, as a person who worked hard to understand the needs of my constituents.”
That is a legacy worth remembering. The way I see it.
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*Photo Credit: Bernard Thibodeau, House of Commons Photo Services
Note: This article was first written for Just Sayin’ Caledon.