By Asia Samachar Team | CANADA |
By Asia Samachar Team | CANADA |
Jagmeet Singh emerged as a household name in the just-concluded Canadian federal elections. Along with the NDP leader, a number of other candidates hailing from the Sikh community have also emerged victorious.
Let us start with the big wigs from the previous ruling Liberal Party government. Out-going Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had a number of Sikhs in his Cabinet.
National defence minister Harjit Singh Sajjan won in Vancouver South where he was first elected in 2015.
Navdeep Singh Bains, 42, who was the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, made the cut as well.
Liberal incumbent and former House Leader Bardish Kaur Chagger was re-elected in the riding of Waterloo. She had served in the previous government as former minister of small business and tourism.
One Liberal casualty was Amarjeet Singh Sohi, the outgoing Minister for Infrastructure lost his seat.
On the other side of the political divide, Jasraj Singh Hallan won on the Conservative ticket in Forest Lawn, a seat previously held by the late Deepak Obhrai.
Obhrai who died in early August, was a Tanzanian-born Canadian politician who had served as an MP for 22 years. He was the first Hindu politician elected to the House of Commons and the longest-serving Conservative MP.
Fellow Conservative candidate Jagdeep Sahota, a legal practitioneer with a degree in political science and psychology, won the Calgary Skyview seat.
The 2019 polls show that Canadian politicians of Sikh descend seem to have again made some strides in national politics, with Jagmeet creating the biggest waves.
Following the 2015 Federal general elections, Trudeau appointed four Sikhs into his Cabinet, with two of them turban-bearing amritdharis, naturally creating euphoria in the Sikh diaspora.
This time around, his government is expected to forge a coalition with NDP, giving the lawyer-turned-politician Jagmeet more airwave in the coming months.
Harjit captures the dreams of many Canadians, said longtime Liberal Prem Singh Vinning, who was instrumental in bringing Sajjan as a candidate to the Liberals.
“Harj resembles what immigrants dream of. You come to the country, you work hard, you succeed, you reach one of the highest offices in the county, and you do it with class and dignity. Harj portrays that and people see that,” Vinning told the Vancouver Sun after his victory.
More than one million people of Indian descent live in Canada. According to the most recent information on religion available from Statistics Canada, 454,965 people identified as Sikh in 2011. The majority are concentrated in Vancouver and in the Great Toronto Area, making their political influence significant in this country.
UPDATE (AN INITIAL LIST OF SIKH CANDIDATES WHO WON):
RELATED STORIES:
Jagmeet Singh: A historic contender for Canada’s top political job (Asia Samachar, 22 July 2019)
5 Sikh women, 5 turbaned Sikhs among 19 Indo-Canadians elected MPs (Asia Samachar, 21 Oct 2015)
4 Sikhs take up Cabinet berth in Canada (Asia Samachar, 5 Nov 2015)
