Meet the Class of 2015: Notable rookies headed to Parliament Hill

There will be many new faces around Parliament Hill when it finally returns.In fact, there will be the largest number of new MPs in the House of Commons since the 1993 election.

The Liberal Party accomplished an impressive feat: itvaulted from third place, and34 seats,to a strong majority government in just one election.

• The final tally: How the parties did on election night
• Justin Trudeau promises cabinet with gender balance

It added nearly 150 seats to its caucus on Oct. 19, including 136 rookies and 14 comeback MPs, drawing fromevery province and territory in the federation.

Each election produces a crop of new MPs with impressive resums. This time is no different, from Jody Wilson-Raybould, regional chief of the B.C.Assembly of First Nations, to human resources executive Bill Morneau, to prosecutor Marco Mendicino, to Seamus O'Regan, a veteran television broadcaster.

But just who elseis part of this new class of MPs?

Canada's ex-boy band MP

There is a long history of sending lawyers and seasoned provincial politiciansto the House of Commons, but former boy band membershave been, well, notably absent until this election.

Meet the Liberal MP for the Quebec riding ofVaudreuil-Soulanges, Peter Schiefke.

Before joining the Liberals, Schiefke was national director of the Climate Reality Project, a group of environmentalists trained by former U.S. vice-president Al Gore on the science and impacts of climate change as well as solutions to address the climate crisis.

But there's another entry on his resume that caught our eye: his time as amember of the short-lived francopop sensation Inmotion, a group that produced the No. 1hit "Sauve-Moi," a gooey love ballad reminiscent of something 'NSyncor the Backstreet Boys produced in the early years of the last decade.

"Peter was the total package we were looking for, because he had great vocal harmony and lots of energy,"one hisgroup members, Kashif Khan, said of SchiefkeinConcordia's student newspaper The Concordian.

But even as his band wastoppingthe pop charts,Schiefkestill had politics in mind.

"The reason I would like to go into politics is because I've seen the social values I've grown up with decompose," he has said, lamenting the "worsening" of theCanadian social system.

Schiefke might be able to start a Liberal caucus band with another newly elected Winnipeg Centre MP, Robert-Falcon Ouellette,who was aprofessional musician with La Fanfarniente della Strada Gypsy Band in QuebecCity, albeit it with much less commercial success.

They're not the first MPs to take a stab at making it big on the Canadian music scene. New DemocratsAndrew Cash, who just lost his seat,and Charlie Angus tried their hand with some success as punk rockers in the bandL'tranger in the 1980s. (Angus was later a member of the folk band Grievous Angels, and Cash went on to an international solo career and later formed The Cash Brothers with his brother, Peter, of Skydiggers fame.)

Youngest, oldest MPs

The Orange Wave of the 2011 federal election produced a young crop of NDP MPs, including the so-called "McGillFour," taking their name from the Montreal university they attended before getting their ticket toOttawa.

But only one of them survived the Crimson Tide of 2015: MatthewDub, the 27-year-oldNDP MP for the Quebec riding ofChamblyBorduas.

The youngest LiberalMP elected to Parliament in this election isKamalKhera, a 26-year-old registered nurse who works in the oncology unit at St Joseph's HealthCentre in Toronto, elected in the riding ofBramptonWest.

But NDP MP Pierre-Luc Dusseault, who was re-elected in the riding of Sherbrooke, Que.,still owns the title of the youngest parliamentarian. Dusseault is just 24.

As for the oldest? Vancouver Centre MPHedyFry, another longtime Liberal who unseated then-prime minister Kim Campbell in the 1993 election. Sheis 74.

Louis Plamondon, of the Bloc Qubcois, will retain his title as the longest continuously serving MP, having first been elected in 1984 as a member of Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservatives.

Military veterans

The contingent of MPs with military service is at its highest levels since the middle of the last century.

Several former combat soldierswere inspired to run for federal office during this election campaign and most flocked to the Liberal party, driven in partby the controversy surroundingthe government's handling of veterans and militaryissues.

Under Stephen Harper's watch,eight Veterans Affairs offices were closed, nearly $1billion indefence spending lapsed and former ministerJulian Fantino's frequentposingwith advocacy groups left hurt feelings.

The highestprofile of the new MPs is retired lieutenant-general Andrew Leslie, who crushed his Conservative opponent in the Ottawa-area riding of Orlans. Leslie, whoserved in Cyprus and Croatia, when it was part of the former Yugoslavia, as well as Afghanistan, ended his military career as the head of the Canadian Army.

He is a good bet for the Trudeau cabinet, and comes from cabinet stock: both of his grandfathers served as defence ministers in past Liberalgovernments.

Lt.-Col. Harjit Sajjan, the first Sikh to command a Canadian Army regiment, also unseated his Conservative opponent in the riding of Vancouver South. Sajjan did three tours inAfghanistan, including one in2006, in which four of his soldiers were killed during fierce fighting with the Taliban.

Former lieutenant-colonel KarenMcCrimmon, who won in herOttawa-area riding of KanataCarleton, is another new MP with experience on the battlefield and a 31-year career in the military.

Liberals take Kanata Carleton

9 years ago

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Newly elected Liberal candidate Karen McCrimmon says Kanata Carleton voted for change

McCrimmon was the first woman in Canada to qualify as an air navigator and the first to command an air force squadron. She served in Afghanistan, the Balkans and the first Gulf War.

A number of other Liberals have served in the regular forces or in the reserves.

Fresh faces in the NDP, Conservatives

Trudeau is not the only politician following in his father's footsteps.

Daniel Blaikie is the son of formerlongtime NDP MP (and party legend)Bill Blaikie. The younger Blaikiescratched his way to victory, winning by roughly 200 votes over his Conservative rival, LawrenceToet, in the Manitoba riding of ElmwoodTranscona.

While some of the party's bigwigsMegan Leslie, Jack Harris and Paul Dewar, among others lost big on election night,Blaikiecould position himself as a bright light in a time of darkness.

A number of prominent names the Harper cabinet chose not to run again, and others, like Joe Oliver and Gail Shea, went down to defeat. But some Red Tories, like two former ministers,Lisa Raitt and Kellie Lietch, found success at the ballot box and will be returning to Ottawa to rebuild.

They'll be joined byDianneWatts,the former mayor of Surrey, B.C., who was once named the fourth best mayor in the world.The star candidate won the riding of South SurreyWhite Rock touting her tough-on-crime record and fiscal prudence.

Shealso hails from a key demographic that swung Liberal in this campaign: moms from the suburbs that surround Canada's largest cities.