Canada: 9 of Punjabi origin in fray for Manitoba provincial elections

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Bathinda, September 13

As many as nine candidates of Punjabi origin are in the fray for Manitoba provinical polls in Canada for which the polling is scheduled to be held on October 3 for all 57 constituencies.

Parties relying on South Asians

The two major political outfits — NDP and PC — are not only banking heavily on South Asians in general and Punjabis in particular, but they have also given ‘adequate representation’ to their communities by fielding them

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

In the final list, Progressive Conservative Party (PC) has fielded Navraz Brar from Burrows, Sumit Chawla from The Maples, Kirt Hayer from St. Boniface and Paramjit Shahi from Fort Richmond.

While, New Democratic Party (NDP) has fielded sitting MLA Diljeet Brar from Burrows, Jasdeep Devgan from Mc Phillips and sitting MLA Mintu Brar from The Maples. Another punjabi Manjit Kaur Gill is contesting from Waverley on Green party ticket and Amarjit Singh has been contested as independent from Southdale.

In 2019 assembly polls, two Punjabis- Daljeet Brar and Mintu Sandhu won the polls in Manitoba in Canada.

Diljeet Brar, who originally belongs to Bhangchari village in Muktsar district and he belongs to the family of educationist. , Diljeet had migrated to Canada in 2010 along with his wife Navneet Kaur and is settled in Winnipeg. Both of them are alumni of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana. He also worked in Manitoba agriculture department till 2018.

While Mintu immigrated to Canada with his parents at a age of 16 in 1989 and he is living in The Maples for past 34 years. He owned and operated his gas station business for 18 years. Mintu also worked to help modernize transportation system in Manitoba and created jobs during his four years term on Manitoba Infrasturture’s Motor Transport Board.

Mintu Sandhu immigrated to Canada as a teenager and has lived in The Maples for 30 years. He worked his way up to a leadership position at one of Winnipeg’s largest taxicab companies. He was first elected in 2019 and has advocated to improve the MPNP program and advance family reunification, help internationally trained nurses work in Manitoba and ensure taxi drivers received wage protection during the pandemic. He stood with families whose loved ones died during a Covid-19 outbreak at the Maples Personal Care Home. He and his wife Inderjiit have three children.