Jalandhar, November 24: In a setback to the Punjabi diaspora in Canada’s Ontario province, Liberal MP from Brampton East Raj Grewal has put in his papers all of a sudden citing “personal and medical” reasons.
Grewal, who had assumed office on October 19, 2015, made the announcement via a Facebook post on Thursday evening. At the same time, he also said he was “hopeful” of being able to again represent his constituency sometimes in the future. The resignation was nothing short of a surprise for many since Grewal had already been re-nominated by the Liberal Party as the party candidate for the 2019 federal polls. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will have no choice but to call for a by-election prior to the 2019 poll due to the timing of the resignation.
Grewal, it is learnt, was being investigated by the Federal Ethics Commissioner for certain allegations levelled by New Democratic Party MP Charles Joseph. The Liberal MP had courted a controversy after allegedly helping secure invitations for his own “business associate” to attend official events in India during Trudeau’s visit, apparently without clearance from the ethics commissioner.
