Leslie Church is a Canadian politician and lawyer who has served as the Member of Parliament for Toronto–St. Paul's since the 2025 Canadian federal election. She is known for her extensive career in the public and private sectors, having held senior roles in federal government, public affairs and the technology sector.
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Early life and education
Church grew up in Edmonton, Alberta. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Political Science & International Relations from the University of Alberta where she served on the Board of Governors and as President of the Student's Union. She later earned a Master of Science in Politics of the World Economy from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She received her Juris Doctor from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law and was a Junior Fellow at Massey College.
After serving as the Executive Director of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance, Church was a member of the Government of Ontario's advisory panel for the 2004 Rae Report, alongside former premiers Bob Rae and Bill Davis, as well as economist Don Drummond.
Career
Church began her career practicing civil and commercial litigation at Torys LLP.
In 2012, she joined Google as the Head of Communications and Public Affairs across the company’s four Canadian offices in Toronto, Kitchener-Waterloo, Montreal and Ottawa.
While working at Google, Church was named Vice-Chair of the Ontario government’s Open Government Engagement Team alongside Progressive Conservative MPP Norm Sterling, digital expert and academic David Eaves, and author Peter MacLeod. In March 2014, they authored the Open By Default report advising that “open by default” principles should be a critical component of Ontario’s open government policy. While at Google, Church was also appointed to the Board of Directors for the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario.
In 2015, it was announced that Church would be leaving Google to take on the role of Chief of Staff to then Heritage Minister Melanie Joly in the newly formed Trudeau government. In that role, she helped begin a significant modernization of Canadian cultural policies to support Canadian arts, culture, film and broadcasting, including Canada’s first creative export strategy and support for Indigenous languages. Following her tenure in Joly's office, Church briefly served as Chief of Staff to Minister of Women and Gender Equality, Maryam Monsef, and then to Public Services and Procurement Minister Anita Anand at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2020, Church joined the Office of the Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, first as Director of Policy and, subsequently, as Chief of Staff. During this time, Church played a key role in the Government of Canada’s pandemic recovery, overseeing 3 federal budgets and working on key files like the introduction of national child care and dental care programs, Canada’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and economic collaboration with the Biden administration. In 2022, Church was placed on a list of 61 Canadian premiers, journalists and senior government advisors who were banned from entering Russia by the Russian Foreign Ministry. In 2023, she was credited by Politico with developing the Canada-U.S. Energy Transformation Task Force, to advance cooperation between Canada and the United States on clean energy initiatives and supply chains.
Church held senior roles in past federal elections, as Deputy Director of Communications for the federal Liberal campaign during the 2019 Canadian federal election and as Director of Policy with responsibility for the Liberal Party platform for the 2021 Canadian federal election.
Church ran in the 2024 Toronto—St. Paul's federal by-election, and lost to Conservative candidate Don Stewart. She ran again in the 2025 Canadian federal election, and defeated Stewart, winning with 61.88% of the vote. Following her victory, Church made comparisons between her two campaigns as "night and day," after the resignation of Justin Trudeau.
On June 5, 2025, she was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Secretaries of State for Labour, for Seniors, and for Children and Youth, and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Jobs and Families (Persons with Disabilities) by Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Personal life
Church resides in Toronto, Ontario alongside her husband and three children.