For the first time, MPs born in the 21st century are headed to the Hill

Canadians elected a total of 112 new MPs this week, including for the first time a handful born this century.

Three incoming Liberal MPs — Jake Sawatzky in B.C., and Amandeep Sodhi and Fares Al Soud in Ontario — were all born in the early 2000s.

Sawatzky, a 25-year-old master's student in counselling psychology, upset longtime NDP MP Peter Julian. 

Sawatzky told CBC Radio's On The Coast that he wanted to get into politics to address mental health and addictions issues.

"There's a lot of people that just really aren't receiving the treatment they really desperately need and, I was thinking, one person can only do so much — this is more of a policy thing now," he told host Gloria Macarenko.

Sawatzky, who was only four when Julian was first elected, said it was also important for him to put his name forward to represent his generation.

"The House of Commons should be representative of all people, including young Canadians," he said. "You can have youth committees and that sort of thing, but the best way to have young people represented is to have young people in government."

The 21st century club almost had (and still could have) a fourth member. Initial results showed Liberal Tatiana Auguste had won a close race in the Quebec riding of Terrebonne, but the validation process later revealed that the Bloc incumbent had won by 44 votes.

That margin is close enough to trigger an automatic judicial recount, meaning it's possible that the riding could flip again in Auguste's favour.

Either way, there are signs the House is getting younger overall.

Conservative Eric Melillo from Ontario also won re-election this week. Born in 1998, he became the first Gen Z MP to be elected to the House when he initially won his riding in 2019.

Sukhman Gill won a seat in B.C. after Monday's vote and will join Melillo as another Gen Z Conservative.

The Conservatives are also adding a handful of new MPs with ties to the sporting world.

Helena Konanz from B.C. is a former world-ranked professional tennis player and coach, having previously competed in such highly touted tournaments as the U.S. Open and Wimbledon.