Elections in Canada are viewed with much interest in Punjab too as the candidates contesting the elections include many a familiar face and name. Everyone is interested in knowing the Punjabi winners Canada elections.
There were 49 Indo-Canadians in the fray this time, including three current ministers, mostly of Punjabi origin. The Conservative Party, Liberal Party, New Democratic Party (NDP) and other parties had pitted 16, 15, 12 and six Indo-Canadian candidates, respectively.
Of the 49 candidates who went asking for backing from the voters, 17 Indo-Canadians got elected in the 44th Canadian Federal General Election on Tuesday. Though this number has reduced by 2, with as many as 19 Indo-Canadians having won in the last elections held in October 2019.
And, while winners have roots in Punjab, there are many losers also who come from the home state of farmers.
Three current ministers and all four MPs from Brampton city of Ontario have retained their seats. Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan, who hails from Bambeli village in Hoshiarpur district, again won from Vancouver South by beating Sukhbir Gill of the Conservative Party.
Among the 17 Indo-Canadian winners are Jagmeet Singh, sitting MP from Burnaby South seat in British Columbia and leader of NDP, former minister Tim Uppal, and current Cabinet Ministers Bardish Chagger (Minister of Diversity) and Anita Anand (Public Service Minister), from Waterloo and Oakville seats, respectively again.
In British Columbia, three-time Liberal Party MP Sukh Dhaliwal retained his Surrey-Newton seat this time too and defeated his Punjabi rival Avneet Johal of the NDP.
Two-time Liberal Party MP Randeep Singh Sarai won the Surrey Centre seat by beating Sonia Andhi of the NDP.
In Quebec, sitting Indo-Canadian Anju Dhillon won her Dorval Lachine LaSalle seat again.
In Alberta, Jasraj Singh Hallan retained the Calgary Forest Lawn seat while George Chahal of the Liberal Party won from Calgary Skyview.
Brampton City in Ontario was dominated by the Punjabi community and all the Punjabi-origin sitting MPs from here got re-elected in their respective seats.
MPs Maninder Sidhu, Sonia Sidhu, Ruby Sahota and Kamal Khera won against fellow Punjabi candidates Naval Bajaj, Ramandeep Brar, Medha Joshi and Gurprit Gill, respectively.
Lawyer Iqwinder Gaheer, who won the Mississauga-Malton seat (Liberal Party), is said to be one of the youngest MPs. Punjabi winners Canada.
Another Indo-Canadian, Chandra Arya, too retained the Napean seat in Ontario.
All the three main parties — Liberal, Conservative and National Democratic Party – had pitted Punjabi candidates in all the constituencies with a sizeable population of Indian-origin people, including Punjabis.
Edmonton, Brampton, Surrey and Calgary are the four areas from where the major parties had put up Punjabi candidates.
