16 Punjabis win Canada poll; Jagmeet Singh with 27 seats to play kingmaker

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, September 21

The New Democratic Party (NDP) led by Punjab-origin Jagmeet Singh, which won 27 seats in the Canada federal elections, is set to play major role as Justin Trudeau-led Liberal Party was unable to reach the majority mark of 170 seats.

Also read: Barnala village celebrates Jagmeet Singh’s poll win

Ontario votes for NDP: Jagmeet Singh-led New Democratic Party won 27 seats, most from Ontario, hub of Indian immigrants

Prominent faces: All prominent leaders, including Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan & Ministers Bardish Chagger & Anita Anand, re-elected

Two first-timers: Of 16 Punjabi MPs, 14 won for second or more time and two are first-timers — George Chahal and Iqwinder Gaheer

The Liberal Party won 158 seats, Conservative 119, BQ 34, NDP 27 and the Green Party two. As many as 17 Indian-origin politicians have made it to the House of Commons. Of them, 16 are Punjabis.

In the 2019 elections, 20 Indians, including 19 Punjabis, were elected. Like last time, Liberal Chanderkanth Arya of Karnataka is the lone non-Punjabi Indian to win the election. Of the 16 Punjabi MPs, 14 have succeeded in winning their seat for the second or more time.

Two Punjabi first-timers were also able to win. They are George Chahal (Liberal), who defeated sitting MP Jag Sahota (Conservative) from Calgary Skyview and Iqwinder Singh Gaheer, who has won from Mississauga-Malton on Liberal ticket. He is also one of the youngest MPs.

All prominent Punjabi faces, including Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan (Vancouver South), Minister Bardish Chagger (Waterloo) and Minister Anita Anand (Oakvilla), were re-elected.

Punjab-origin Jagmeet Singh, who heads the NDP, was re-elected from Burnaby South. Of the five seats in Brampton, Punjabis won four – Ruby Sahota (Brampton North), Maninder Sidhu (Brampton East), Sonia Sidhu (Brampton South) and Kamal Khera (Brampton West).

Five Punjabi women were also re-elected. They are Anju Dhillon, Ruby Sahota, Sonia Sidhu , Anita Anand and Bardish Chagger. Anju, a lawyer who had contested for the Liberal Party, won the Dorval-Lachine-Lasalle seat. She became the first Indo-Canadian to win a seat twice in the French-speaking province of Quebec.

Other prominent Punjab-origin winners are Tim Uppal (Edmonton Mill Woods), Randeep Singh Sarai (Surrey Centre) and Jasraj Singh Hallan (Calgary Forest Lawn).