Roots in Amritsar, Tangri elected MPP in Canada

With roots in Amritsar, Nina Tangri has won the re-election in Ontario’s provincial elections held recently and is Associate Minister for Housing. She previously served as the Associate Minister of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction. She took oath on the Bhagvad Gita.

Elected Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Mississauga-Streetsville, she is a member of the Progressive Conservative party of Ontario. She was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 2018 and has held the portfolio of Associate Minister of Small Business since 2023.

Her husband Ashwani Tangri, who migrated from Jalandhar’s Bilga village to Toronto in 1978 and got married to Nina in 1984, said her parents Om Prakash Maini and mother Kanta Rani hailed from Sialkot, which is now in Pakistan, before the Partition. After they migrated to the UK, she was born in 1965 there. After attaining education in the UK, she moved to Canada after her marriage. He recalled that close relatives of Nina lived in Amritsar’s Rani Ka Bagh area before migrating overseas.

Running Tangri Insurance and Finance Company in Canada, the Tangris are blessed with three sons. The eldest Ram is a lawyer, Neil is a doctor and Devan is an IT professional. The family is in charity as they run a school and a health centre in Bilga.

Following her reappointment, Tangri expressed her appreciation in a social media post: “Small businesses are the backbone of our province and the economy. It’s been my honour to be their voice at the table as a former small business owner. Today, I am very humbled to return as the Associate Minister of Small Business, my sincere thanks to Premier Ford for his trust and confidence.”

Premier Ford’s cabinet announcement highlights the government’s dedication to protecting Ontario’s economy amid trade challenges and economic uncertainty. Tangri’s role will be of importance as small businesses account for 98 per cent of the more than 400,000 businesses in Ontario.

Professionally, Nina is an entrepreneur and former business owner with over 35 years of experience in insurance and finance. She has also chaired the standing committee on social policy and served as a member of the standing committee on justice policy, standing committee on government agencies, and the standing committee on public accounts.