Alex Ruff, MSC, CD, MP
Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound

Member of Parliament (MP) Alex Ruff grew up on a farm in Tara, ON and upon graduation from Chesley District High School enrolled in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) in June 1993. He attended university at the Royal Military College (RMC) of Canada in Kingston, ON. On graduation in 1997 from RMC with an Honours Bachelor of Space Science, he was commissioned as an Infantry Officer into The Royal Canadian Regiment (The RCR). Throughout his 25 plus years, he served in Petawawa, ON, Kingston, ON, Gagetown, NB, Toronto, ON, and Ottawa, ON. He has six operational deployments including the QC/ON Ice Storm (1998), two peacekeeping tours in Bosnia (1998−99 and 2001), two tours in Afghanistan (2007 and 2012) and finally one tour in Baghdad, Iraq (2018-19) where he was the Chief of Staff/Deputy Director for the Ministerial Liaison Team (MLT) to the Iraqi Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Interior. In this role, he was the coalition lead from the MLT to NATO in standing up the NATO Training Mission – Iraq.

MP Ruff has extensive experience in project management, training, planning, joint operations, doctrine, budget management, government, and international relations (NATO, NORAD and other allies). He has commanded soldiers from the platoon (approximately 35 -50) to the battalion level (approximately 1000).

He retired from the military in early 2019 as a Colonel. He was first elected as the MP for Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound on October 21, 2019, and subsequently re-elected on September 20, 2021, for the 44th Parliament of Canada. He is a strong advocate for rural Canada, farmers, responsible management of the economy, small business owners, seniors, the military, national security/public safety, and veterans. He was a member of the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs in the 43rd Parliament until being appointed as the Deputy Whip for the Official Loyal Opposition from September 2020-August 2021 when he sat on the Joint Interparliamentary Council. Early in the 44th Parliament, MP Ruff sat on the Standing Committee for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities and the Special Committee on Afghanistan. Since June 2022, he is a member of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians.

MP Ruff enjoys most sports, canoeing and has SCUBA dived all over t he world. He has one young daughter and lives on his home farm in Tara, Ontario.