27 Punjabis try their luck in Canadian provincial poll

As many as 27 candidates of Punjabi origin are in the fray for British Columbia’s provincial poll in Canada. Polling for all 93 constituencies will be held on October 19.

Both major political outfits — National Democratic Party (NDP) and Conservative Party — are not only banking heavily on South Asians in general and Punjabis in particular, but they have also given “adequate representation” to the communities by fielding them.

The NDP has fielded its sitting Minister of Housing and Government House Leader Ravi Kahlon from his Delta seat. Earlier, he was a hockey player and has represented Canada at several international events, including the 2000 and 2008 Summer Olympics.

Sitting Minister of Education and Child Care Rachna Singh is seeking re-election for a third term from Surrey North on NDP ticket. She was born in Delhi and grew up in Chandigarh. She attended Panjab University, from which she received a master’s degree in psychology.

Senior leader Raj Chauhan is serving as the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. He previously served as the Assistant Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly from 2013 to 2017 and as the Deputy Speaker from 2017 to 2020. While in Opposition, he served as the critic for mental health; human rights, immigration and multiculturism and labour. He was first elected MLA in 2005 and then re-elected in 2009, 2013, 2017 and 2020. Now, he is contesting for the record sixth term on NDP ticket.

Another big name Jagroop Brar, who is presently serving as Minister of State for Trade since 2022, is contesting on NDP ticket from Surrey Fleetwood for a seventh term. He lost just once in 2013 and won all polls he contested. Brar was born in Bathinda and was part of the Indian men’s national basketball team. He moved to Canada for studies and settled there. He has been active in politics since 2004 when he was elected first time as an MLA.

Other Punjabi candidates in the fray from the NDP are Kamal Grewal from Kamloops Centre, Harpreet Badowal from Kelowna Mission, Harwinder Sandhu from Vernon Lumby, Baltej Dhillon from Surrey Serpentine River, Aman Singh from Richmond Queensborough, Anne Kang from Burnaby Centre, Reah Arora from Burnaby East, Niki Sharma from Vancover Hastings, Sunita Dhir from Vancover Langara, Ravi Parmar from Langford Highland and Jinny Sin.

The Conservative Party has fielded Harman Bhangu from Langlet Abbotsford, Avtar Gill from Surrey Fleetwood, Honveer S Randhawa from Surrey Guildford, Tegjot Bal from Surrey Newton, Mandeep Dhaliwal from Surrey North, Deepak Suri from Burnaby Westmindster and Jagdeep Sanghera from Vancover Fraserview.

Manjeet Sahota is contesting on Green Party ticket from Surrey Guildford, while Pavneet Singh, Amandeep Singh, Amrit Birring and Dupinder Saran are contesting as Independent candidates.

Harry Bains, a senior leader, is not contesting this time as he has taken retirement from politics. He has been NDP MLA from Surrey Newton since 2005. Eight Punjabis won the British Columbia provincial poll in 2020. Out of them, seven are again trying their luck in this poll as well.