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.
Melanie Mark, the minister of tourism, arts, culture and sport, says events will be eligible to claim up to $250,000 with applications open until Oct. 1. The money can go toward operational costs, health and safety measures, venue rental, marketing, wages and promotion.
The BC Prosecution Service has approved charges of sexual assault and sexual interference against Sangris, related to an incident on August 13. VPD is continuing to investigate the possibility of any connections between that incident and other unsolved gropings in the area.
Program spending, excluding net actuarial losses, totalled $39.1 billion in June, down from $51.3 billion a year earlier. Revenue increased to $29.6 billion for the month, up from $19.9 billion in June last year.
Canada's military mission in Afghanistan ended that day, leaving an unknown number of Canadians and their families trapped, as well as vulnerable Afghans who fear Taliban reprisals.
During a stop in Mississauga, Ont., Justin Trudeau says a re-elected Liberal government would procure enough vaccines to ensure all Canadians have access to free COVID-19 booster shots and any needed second-generation vaccines.
The Ministry of Health says in a statement that people who were not fully vaccinated accounted for 82.4 per cent of all COVID-19 cases and 86.4 per cent of hospitalizations between Aug. 11 and Tuesday this week.
