45 Punjab-origin candidates in fray for Canada polls on Sept 20

Strap: It’s Punjabi vs Punjabi contest on several seats

Prominent faces

* Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan from Vancouver South

* Minister Anita Anand from Oakvilla in Ontario

* Minister Bardish Chaggar from Waterloo

* Jagmeet Singh, leader of New Democratic Party who provided support to the minority government of Justice Trudeau, from Burnaby South

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, September 6

Nearly 45 Punjabis are trying their luck in the Canadian Federal General Elections for which the polling is scheduled for September 20.

In 2019, 47 Punjabis were in the fray and 22 of them made it to the House of Commons. With 19 of the sitting MPs and a Punjabi-versus-Punjabi contest on several seats, their relatives back home are keeping fingers crossed.

The prominent Punjabi NRI faces in the poll fray are: Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan from Vancouver South, minister Anita Anand from Oakvilla in Ontario, minister Bardish Chaggar from Waterloo and Jagmeet Singh, leader of New Democratic Party (NDP) who provided support to the minority government of Justice Trudeau, is seeking reelection from Burnaby South.

Three main parties — the Conservatives, the Liberals and the NDP — have fielded around 45 candidates of Punjab origin, mainly in cities of Brampton, Surrey, Calgary and Edmonton.

The Liberals have fielded Ruby Sahota (Brampton North), Sonia Sidhu (Brampton South), Kamal Khera (Brampton West) and Raj Saini (Kitchender Centre), Anju Dhillon (Dorval-Lachine-LaSalle), Randeep S Sarai (Surrey Centre) and Sukh Dhaliwal (Surrey Newton) for reelection. The other candidates fielded by the Liberals are Maninder Sidhu, Lakhwinder Jhaj, Parm Bains and Sabrina Grover.

The NDP has fielded Tejinder Singh form Brampton South, Gurprit Gill from Brampton West, Avneet Johal from Surrey Newton and Gurinder Singh Gill from Calgary Skyview.

The candidates fielded by the Conservatives include sitting MPs Tim Uppal, Jag Sahota and Jasraj Singh. Other candidates are Indira Bains, Priti Lamba, Naval Bajaj, Medha Joshi, Ramandeep Brar, Jagdeep Singh, Tina Bains and Sukhbir Singh Gill.

Navdeep Bains (Mississauga-Malton), who was earlier a minister in the Trudeau cabinet, is reportedly quitting politics and is not re-contesting this time. Along with him, Liberal MP Gagan Sikand (Mississauga-Streetsville) and Independent Ramesh Sangha (Brampton Centre) are also not seeking re-election this time.

The power of the Sikh community has been gauged from the fact that in last House, it had 18 Sikh MPs in Canada.

The Sikh community comprises just 1 per cent of the country’s population, but they have come to wield more power than most of their immigrant counterparts.

The credit goes to a robust culture of grassroots politics, organisational skills and fundraising capabilities, and a particular feature of Canada’s electoral system that requires each candidate to bring in a certain number of signatures and party members in order to get nominated.