It’s a moment of joy for the Indo-Canadians after a sweep in the just concluded elections.
The Indian origin Canadians had much to cheer about after a historic representation in the new Parliament with the election of 19 MPs.
Though Indians comprise of just 3% of the total Canadian population, the recent new number of Indo-Canadian lawmakers far outstripped the previous high of nine, which in itself is an achievement..!!
The Justin Trudeau effect pulled in at least 15 Indo-Canadian Liberals to the Parliament in Ottawa. They won seats in four provinces – Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta.
Among the prominent winners was Harjit Sajjan of the Liberal Party, a Canadian Armed Forces veteran, who served three operational deployments in Afghanistan.
The longest-serving Indo-Canadian MP, Deepak Obhrai, won for the seventh time from Calgary Forest Lawn, while four-time MP Nina Grewal lost the elections.
The biggest loser was minister of state for sports Bal Gosal, who lost by about 6,000 votes to Liberal Party candidate Ramesh Sangha in Brampton Centre constituency of Ontario. Also a winner was Sukh Dhaliwal, another Liberal, who as an MP in 2010 had moved a resolution in the Canadian Parliament to have the 1984 riots in India declared a genocide.
Some Indo-Canadian MPs:
Anju Dhillon: Liberal, won the Quebec constituency of Dorval-Lachine-LaSalle
Chandra Arya: Liberal, won from Nepean in Ontario
Ramesh Sangha: Liberal, won from Brampton Centre in Ontario, defeating minister of state Bal Gosal
Gagan Sikand: Liberal, won from Missauga-Streetsville in Ontario
Deepak Obhrai: Conservative, won from Calgary Forest Lawn in Alberta
Harjit Sajjan: Liberal, won from Vancouver South in British Columbia
Sukh Dhaliwal: Liberal, won from Surrey Newton in British Columbia
Raj Saini: Liberal, won from Kitchener Centre in Ontario
Bardish Chagger: Liberal, won from Waterloo in Ontario
Bob Saroya: Conservative, won from Markham-Unionville in Ontario
