17 Indo-Canadians elected MPs as Trudeau fails to win majority
Darpan News Desk IANS, 21 Sep, 2021 11:35 AM
Toronto, Sep 21 (IANS) Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus gamble to seek a majority by calling a snap election has not paid off even as 17 Indo-Canadians were elected as MPs.
In the elections held on Monday, Trudeau's ruling Liberal Party again ended up 14 seats short of the 170-mark in the 338-member House of Commons.
The Jagmeet Singh-led New Democratic Party (NDP) will again hold the balance of power as it increased its tally from 24 to 27.
The main opposition Conservative Party ended up with a tally of 122 seats � one up from the dissolved House.
Among the 17 Indo-Canadian winners are Jagmeet Singh, former Minister Tim Uppal and three current Cabinet Ministers Harjit Singh Sajjan, Bardish Chagger and Anita Anand.
Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan again won from Vancouver South by beating Sukhbir Gill of the Conservative Party.
Chagger, Minister of Diversity, too retained her Waterloo seat as did Public Service Minister Anand her Oakville seat.
NDP leader Jagmeet Singh also retained his Burnaby South seat in British Columbia.
In British Columbia, three-time Liberal Party MP Sukh Dhaliwal retained his Surrey-Newton seat by beating fellow Punjabi Avneet Johal of the NDP.
Two-time Liberal Party MP Randeep Singh Sarai also won the Surrey Centre seat by beating Sonia Andhi of the NDP.
In Quebec, the sitting Indo-Canadian Anju Dhillon retained her Dorval�Lachine�LaSalle seat.
In Alberta, Jasraj Singh Hallan retained the Calgary Forest Lawn seat, but his fellow Conservative MP Jag Sahota lost to fellow Sikh George Chahal of the Liberal Party.
Uppal is back once again after retaining the Edmonton Mill Woods seat for the Conservative party.
He is the brother-in-law of Congress MLA from Jalandhar Cantt, Pargat Singh.
In Ontario, the Punjabi-dominated city of Brampton again re-elected all the four sitting Indo-Canadian MPs � Maninder Sidhu, Ruby Sahota, Sonia Sidhu and Kamal Khera � against fellow Indo-Canadians Naval Bajaj, Medha Joshi, Ramandeep Brar and Gurprit Gill, respectively.
The winners belong to Trudeau's Liberal Party.
Chandra Arya too retained the Napean seat in Ontario.
Lawyer Iqwinder Gaheer, who won the Mississauga-Malton seat for the Liberal Party, will be one of the youngest MPs to go the House of Commons in Ottawa.
Sitting Conservative Party MP Bob Saroya was another known Indo-Canadian face to lose on Monday.
The federal and Alberta governments are signing an agreement that could lead to a plant to produce hydrogen built near Edmonton. The governments say they're working with Air Products Canada to build the $1.3-billon plant, which would produce the clean-burning fuel from natural gas.
Legal experts say it's probably too early for terror charges to be laid because investigators need sufficient evidence of motive. But the experts also expressed concern that prosecutors in Canada usually reserve terror charges for people with Islamist extremist views, which they say sends the message the law isn't being applied equally.
An unknown man approached an 8 year-old female student on the playground at Lord Roberts Elementary School near Bidwell and Pendrell streets on June 7 between 2 and 2:30 p.m. and exposed his genitals to her. The suspect left the area before police arrived.
There are currently 2,051 active cases of COVID-19 in the province. Of the active cases, 203 individuals are currently hospitalized, 57 of whom are in ICU.
Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino says Canada is offering two new paths to permanent residency for Hong Kong residents who work here or are recent graduates already living in the country.
