The Indian Panorama

Tag: Sukh Dhaliwal

  • Now Andrea Horwath, Sukh Dhaliwal to run for Mayor, Ravi Kahlon is not in run for BC Premier

    By Prabhjot Singh
    Former Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath announces bid for Hamilton mayor while Sukh Dhaliwal is to run for mayor of Surrey

    Politics is a game of beautiful uncertainties. Essentially mandated to serve people at large, politicians are known for  sudden shifts in their roles. The shifts are mostly induced by denial of roles they wanted to perform. Being a Federal or a Provincial Minister once, some find it little hard to subsequently adjust  as an elected representative alone. There may be other reasons for changing priorities or offices they want to hold in a system full of opportunities for those who have enjoyed electoral success at some level. It keeps them moving ahead, eyeing new opportunities. It is perhaps the dynamics of politics that has seen many senior parliamentarians opting to serve their local communities as Mayors. Most recent example has been  Andrea Horwath, who until  last month was in the running  for Premiership of Ontario as the leader of the NDP,  is  now running for mayor in Hamilton to help the city “realize its potential.” In British Columbia, long time MP from Surrey Newton, Sukh Dhaliwal, has also announced his candidature for Mayor of Surrey. Another former MP and MPP, Jinny Sims, too, is in the running for Mayor of Surrey, the second biggest city of British Columbia.

    Mayoral elections are due in October.

    Andrea Horwath, the former leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP) has  announced to quit her post as  Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Hamilton Centre to enter the mayoral race. She says the work she has done all her political life is for her city of Hamilton. It would be a really exciting time to be part of the realization of the great opportunities that are ahead,  she told select media ahead of her public announcement. Horwath joins three others in the race for the job: former mayor Bob Bratina, newcomer to politics Keanin Loomis and labor advocate Ejaz Butt. Current Mayor Fred Eisenberger announced last month he would not be seeking re-election.

    Horwath, born and raised in the city, was Ward 2 city councilor from 1997 to 2004 before becoming Hamilton East MPP for the NDP. In 2007, she became Hamilton Centre MPP and eventually leader of the Ontario NDP.

    During her time as leader, she helped the NDP go from not having official party status to being official opposition twice. The party won 40 seats in 2018 but the recent election in June saw that number decrease to 31. She announced her resignation as party leader the evening of June 2 within hours of the declaration of the results.

    If she wins the Mayoral election, she will be the first woman in 175 years to do so. Many believe that change of course followed Horwath’s unsuccessful attempt to become Ontario premier. Coming to British Columbia, where the leadership race has been thrown open by Premier Horgan deciding to quit before next leadership election for which  eight of Ministers have said  no to join the race, decks are almost clear for the Attorney General David Eby to be the next Premier.

    Olympian-turned politician and Job Minister Ravi Kahlon who was considered a possible choice for Premiership has already  said he would not  run . He has, instead, supported his cabinet colleague David Eby for the top spot.

    After Ravi Kahlon made clear his position, several other Ministers including Finance Minister Selina Robinson, Health Minister Adrian Dix,  Lands Minister Josie Osborne, Municipal Affairs Minister Nathan Cullen, Tourism Minister Melanie Mark, Minister of State for Infrastructure Bowinn Ma and Minister of State for Childcare Katrina Chen, have said they will not run for leadership.

    This leaves the field open for David Eby. His election may be unanimous as of today there appears to be no other candidate willing to join the leadership race. Since no one was coming forward, the announcement  made by David Eby about his candidature for the Premiership ended weeks of speculation over who might replace John Horgan as party leader and premier of British Columbia. Interestingly  all other high-profile New Democrats have bowed out of this fall’s leadership election. As of now, David Eby  looks the frontrunner and perhaps  the only candidate for the leadership to be decided on December 3.  Born in Kitchener, David Eby will turn 46 on Thursday (today).

    Yet another Member of Parliament has decided to run for Mayoral post. This time, it is none other than Sukh Dhaliwal, the sitting MP from Surrey Newton. He made his decision known on Monday that he will be joining the race for the position of Mayor of Surrey, the second largest city of British Columbia. Before him, three MPs, including ex-MPs, have moved from federal to local politics. One of them, who was a cabinet minister in the previous Justin Trudeau Government, Amarjit Sohi, is Mayor of Edmonton.

    Another ex-MP, Jinny Sims, who after a stint in the House of Commons, moved to provincial politics, has now decided to opt for local politics. She had announced her candidature for the post of Mayor of Surrey last month.

    Bal Gosal, who incidentally was one of the first MPs, to try his luck in Mayoral politics, was unsuccessful in the Indian-immigrant rich city of Brampton from where Patrick Brown was elected Mayor in the last elections.

    Incidentally, Patrick Brown, who was in the run for the Conservative Party leadership but faced “disqualification” on grounds of violating the election laws, has announced his decision to re-run for the Mayoral post in October.

    The race for Surrey mayor, however, has assumed special importance as it is set to witness a quadrangular contest involving a former NDP MP, Jinny Sims, current sitting MP Sukh Dhaliwal, Councilor Brenda Locke and incumbent Mayor Doug McCallum.

    Sukh Dhaliwal’s decision to move back from Ottawa to Surrey came after months of deliberations and speculation. “Over the last four years, we have seen divisive politics, unprecedented division, partisanship, no focus on the citizens of Surrey,” he said.

    Calling Surrey’s current council “secretive” and “biased,” Dhaliwal added that he plans to “repair a divided city,” media reports quoting him from his Monday’s Press Conference said. Dhaliwal has run against Sims in three federal elections and was a key organizer for McCallum when he was first mayor in the 1990s. Dhaliwal  announced his action plan while setting his election campaign in motion.

    If elected, he says, there will be a roll back of a $200 increase to the yearly parcel tax that Surrey council enacted in 2020, besides “an immediate one-year tax freeze.” This will help the people that need the help now, because we are going through unprecedented uncertainty, he said. To meet the loss on account of tax cut, Dhaliwal hopes to meet it through Surrey’s accumulated surplus  that would facilitate the changes. “We have accumulated wealth, almost $300 million and we can use that money that we have accumulated to make sure that we are able to help the ones that need the most by freezing those taxes,” he told a section of media.

    Dhaliwal said he has no intention of reversing the biggest development of McCallum’s tenure — the transition to an independent municipal police force from the Surrey RCMP. While Locke is promising to overturn the transition and Sims has promised to study the details before making a decision, Dhaliwal says the move is too far underway to reverse now.

    “It is my understanding that almost 300 people are already hired in the city police. We have come a long way.”

    With Sukh Dhaliwal joining the race, it could split the strong Indo-Canadian community in the second largest city of British Columbia. If it happens, the chances of incumbent McCallum winning another term in office may brighten up.  Academicians and other experts also hold that Surrey residents may also want a clean slate after McCallum dominated news headlines for many years in controversial ways, including a criminal charge for mischief that won’t be fought in court until after the election. The field is still open for more candidates to join the Mayoral race  as a former White Rock mayor, MLA and MP Gordie Hogg, may also throw his hat in the ring.

    (Prabhjot Singh is a veteran journalist with over three decades of experience covering a wide spectrum of subjects and stories. He has covered  Punjab and Sikh affairs for more than three decades besides covering seven Olympics and several major sporting events and hosting TV shows. For more in-depth analysis please visit probingeye.com  or follow him on Twitter.com/probingeye. He can be reached at prabhjot416@gmail.com)

  • Mission politics started from Mission in BC

    Mission politics started from Mission in BC

    By Prabhjot Singh

    It was not easy. The early migrants from South Asia were not welcome to Canada. They not only suffered numerous hardships but were also denied the right for a decent living. They had no voting rights. In fact, the concept of the Nagar Kirtan processions, or the Sikh Parades, proved to be an effective tool for the overseas Sikh community to introduce itself as a peaceful and hard-working group that had no qualms of making countries of their present abode as their homes. The first ever-Sikh Parade or Nagar Kirtan procession was organized on January 19, 1908, along Second Avenue in Vancouver.

    It has been this commitment that has helped them to script an unprecedented success story the world over. Though the Punjabis – initially described as Hindus – started reaching Canada in early 1900, they were denied voting rights in British Columbia from 1907 onwards. They had to wait for 40 long years to win back the right to vote. In 1947, the requirement to be a voter was changed to Canadian citizenship in addition to being a British subject. It was in 1950 that the first Sikh – Naranjan Singh Grewall – was elected to the City Council of Mission in British Columbia.

    He became the first “Hindu” (the colloquial term for South Asians at the time) elected to any political position in Canada. Later, he became the first South Asian migrant to become Mayor of the Mission City Council in 1954. Grewall’s run for a seat in the BC Legislature as a member of the CCF surprised no one. He was first and foremost a man of the people. He lost the assembly election in a close battle.

    The Indo-Canadian community was waiting for the break Naranjan Singh Grewall had provided. Once the process of its assimilation in mainstream politics started, the Punjabi migrant community set its goals high. And before the turn of the century, it had three of its nominees – Gurbax Malhi, Herb Dhaliwal, and Jag Bhaduria – sitting in the House of Commons in Ottawa.

    And long before their journey to Ottawa started, the beginning, though unsuccessful, was made in late 60s and early 70s. In 1970, a new party was born. It was headed by an Indo-Canadian. Called Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist), it was founded by Hardial Singh Bains, a trained Bacteriologist. Born in Mahilpur in Hoshiarpur, Hardial moved to Vancouver when he was 19. Much before Jagmeet Singh became the President of the NDP, Hardial Singh Bains had earned the distinction of leading a national political party in Canada.

    After studying in Canada, England, and Ireland, Hardial Singh Bains returned to Canada and spearheaded the workers movement. Since Elections Canada does not allow the use of the word “communist” in the name of any party, Hardial Singh Bains got his party registered as Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada in 1974. Before his death in 1997, the Marxist-Leninist Party contested the 1974, 1979, 1980, 1993 and 1997 federal elections. Though the party has never succeeded in sending any of its members to the House of Commons, it fielded its largest number of candidates,177, in 1980. Many of these candidates were migrants, including those from India. Amarjit Dhillon, who was the party candidate from Vancouver South, both in 1979 and 1980, polled only 91 and 63 votes. Overall, though the party never aggregated 0.20 per cent of total votes polled, still it never gave up its fight and contested the last federal elections in 2021 by fielding 36 candidates.

    It was in 1974 when Hari Singh, a teacher, contested on Liberal ticket from Okanagan-Kootenay. Though it was a Liberal stronghold, but Hari Singh lost. After his defeat, he accused the majority community of Liberals of voting against him. Subsequently, the Liberals retained the seat.

    Ten years later in 1984, another teacher, Harkirpal Singh Sora, contested from Vancouver South. He too was unsuccessful. Deepak Obhrai was the longest serving MP from Calgary East. Long before he emerged on the scene, in 1988 this riding had tried to elect Anil Giga, a Liberal, to the House of Commons. He, however, was defeated by Alex Kindy by 18,227 votes. The Bramalea-Gore-Malton Riding has always remained a stronghold of the Punjabi migrants. The first attempt by the community to get into the House of Commons was in 1988, when the Liberals put up Gurjit Grewal, who lost by 2,185 votes to Harry Chadwik of the CP.

    Palbinder Shergill, a young amritdhari Sikh and a practicing lawyer, was one of the first Punjabi women to contest federal elections. She was unsuccessful  along with another Punjabi Indo-Canadian candidate from the Surrey Central Riding. The other  candidate was Charan Gill who had earlier made an attempt to get into the House of Commons in 1988 but was defeated by Benno Friesen of the PC. He represented the NDP.

    Sikh Turban has become an integral part of Canadian Parliament

    Two turbaned Sikh politicians – one from yesteryear, and another from now – Gurbax Singh Malhi and Jagmeet SinghJagmeet Singh

    October 25, 1993 would go down in the annals of history of the Canadian House of Commons as a golden letter day. It was on this day that Canada earned the distinction of electing the first turbaned Sikh MP to any Parliament outside India. The honor went to Gurbax Singh Malhi as he was declared successful from Bramalea-Gore-Malton riding. Though two more MPs of Indian origin – Harbance (Herb) Singh Dhaliwal and Jagdish Bhaduria – also made their debut in the Canadian House of Commons simultaneously, the spotlight was on Gurbax Singh Malhi. Since then, no Canadian Parliament has been complete without a turbaned Sikh represented on it.

    Starting with three MPs in 1993, now the Indo-Canadian community has grown six times in its strength in the House of Commons. It represents all three major parties – the ruling Liberals, the main Opposition party the Conservatives, and the third major party NDP headed by an Indo-Canadian Jagmeet Singh. Incidentally, Jagmeet Singh is the lone Indo-Canadian NDP in the current House of Commons.

    Of 42 MPs of Indian origin elected to House of Commons since 1993, Navdeep Singh Bains, Tim Uppal, Jagmeet Singh, Randeep Sarai, Harjit Singh Sajjan, Darshan Singh Kang, Raj Grewal, Jasraj Singh Hallan and Iqwinder Singh Gaheer, are among those who earned special limelight because of their colorful turbans.

    Incidentally, Gurbax Singh Malhi has till date remained the longest serving Sikh MP representing the Liberals. He was elected five times starting in 1993 till he lost the 2011 elections. Otherwise, Deepak Obhrai, who was born in Tanzania, earned the distinction of longest serving Canadian MP of Indian origin. He retained his House of Commons seat for seven consecutive terms mostly as a nominee of Conservatives.

    While Gurbax Singh Malhi, Jag Bhaduria and Herb Dhaliwal were the first representatives of Liberals in Canadian Parliament, the honor for giving representation to Indo-Canadians in the House of Commons on behalf of Conservatives went to Deepak Obhrai and Gurmant Grewal. Subsequently, Jasbir Singh Sandhu and Jinny Jogindera Sims were the first Indo Canadians to represent NDP in the Canadian Parliament.

    Women of Indo-Canadian descent did not take along to reach Ottawa’s Parliament Hill. Ruby Dhalla (Liberal from Ontario) and Nina Grewal (Conservative from British Columbia) became the torch bearers. They were followed by Jinny Jogindera Sims (NDP).

    Sonia Sidhu, Ruby Sahota, Kamal Khera, Bardish Chagger and Anju Dhillon created ripples when they all made their entry into the 42nd Parliament and are all continuing in the current 44th Parliament. In the 43rd Parliament they were joined by Anita Anand, the first Indo-Canadian woman politician to hold the important portfolio of Defense. Also, a new entrant was Jag Sahota, the ninth woman of Indian origin to enter Canadian Parliament.

    These Canadian MPs of Indian origins have several other firsts to their credit. For example, Gurmant Singh Grewal and Nina Grewal were the first couple to sit in the same House. Herb Dhaliwal was the first from the group to be inducted in the Canadian Cabinet as a Minister for Oceans. Many of them have remained Parliamentary Secretaries attached with important ministries.

    In the previous Liberal Government, Harjit Singh Sajjan, became the toast of not only the Indo-Canadian community but also of the rapidly growing Indian Diaspora after he was named the Defense Minister of Canada.

    Bardish Chagger hawked media headlines on becoming the first woman leader of the House of Commons. And late last year, Anita Anand stole the limelight as the first Indo-Canadian woman to hold the portfolio of Defense Minister. Incidentally, the last two Liberal Governments had an Indo-Canadian as Defense Minister.

    There have been Indo-Canadians who created history both in provincial and federal politics. The shining example has been of Ujjal Dosanjh who after his phenomenal rise as the first Indo-Canadian Premier of British Columbia  later held the portfolio of the Canadian Health Minister. A couple of MPs, including Jinny Jogendra Sims and Parm Gill, later made their debut in provincial politics and held positions as Cabinet Ministers in British Columbia and Ontario, respectively. Amarjit Sohi, who held an important cabinet portfolio in the previous Justin Trudeau government is now a Mayor of Edmonton in Alberta since last year.

    MPs of Indian origin

    Gurbax Singh Malhi

    Harbance (Herb) Singh Dhaliwal

    Jag Bhaduria

    Deepak Obhrai

    Gurmant Grewal

    Rahim Jaffer

    Nina Grewal

    Ruby Dhalla

    Ujjal Dosanjh

    Navdeep Bains

    Sukh Dhaliwal

    Tim Uppal

    Jinny Jogindera Sims

    Devinder Shory

    Jasbir Sandhu

    Bal Gosal

    Parm Gill

    Joe Daniel

    Amarjit Sohi

    Jagmeet Singh

    Gagan Sikand

    Sonia Sidhu

    Jati Sidhu

    Bob Saroya

    Randeep Singh Sarai

    Ramesh Sangha

    Harjit Singh Sajjan

    Raj Saini

    Ruby Sahota

    Kamal Khera

    Darshan Singh Kang

    Raj Grewal

    Anju Dhillon

    Bardish Chagger

    Chandra Arya

    Maninder Sidhu

    Jag Sahota

    Jasraj Sigh Hallan

    Anita Anand

    Iqwinder Singh Gaheer

    George Chahal

    Parm Bains

    -To be concluded

    (Prabhjot Singh is a veteran journalist with over three decades of experience covering a wide spectrum of subjects and stories. He has covered  Punjab and Sikh affairs for more than three decades besides covering seven Olympics and several major sporting events and hosting TV shows. For more in-depth analysis please visit probingeye.com  or follow him on Twitter.com/probingeye. He can be reached at prabhjot416@gmail.com)