It is balle-balle time for over half a million Punjabis in Canada as all nine Indian-Canadian MPs voted into office in the recent election are of Punjabi origin.
The new parliament now has three turbaned Sikh MPs as Tim Uppal of the Conservative Party joins Gurbax Malhi and Navdeep Bains of the opposition Liberal Party in the 308-member House of Commons.
Remarkably, there are only 13 Punjabis in the Lok Sabha, India’s 545-member Lower House, or House of the People.
Uppal, a 34-year-old Canadian-born property investor, was elected as a first-time MP in Edmonton Sherwood Park.
Another first-time Punjabi MP is Devinder Shory (Calgary Northeast), a Calgary lawyer who previously tried his luck provincially.
Malhi was the first turbaned Sikh to become an MP in Canada in 1993, He was re-elected for the sixth time. “The secret of my success are my diverse constituents — 50 per cent of whom are white. I listen to them, I am where they want me to be and I raise their concerns in parliament,” Malhi said.
Happy with the election of another turbaned Sikh, Malhi said: “It is good to have more of our people in positions of importance. Tim Uppal’s election is good news for us. He will help spread the message about who we are.”
Deepak Obhrai, a parliamentary secretary in the last government, recorded his fifth victory in Calgary East. Chandigarh-educated Obhrai is expected to be promoted when Prime Minister Stephen Harper announces his new team. “It is up the prime minister to decide. I am not sure about anything because there are many contenders,” he said.
Canada’s first Indian-origin MP, Nina Grewal, was elected for the third time from Fleetwood-Port Kells in B.C., as was fellow Punjabi Ruby Dhalla from Brampton-Springdale on the outskirts of Toronto.
Navdeep Bains retained Mississauga Brampton South and Sukh Dhaliwal kept Newton-North Delta for the Liberal Party.
Former Canadian health minister Ujjal Dosanjh scraped out a win by only 779 votes in Vancouver South over Conservative Wai Young.
“We (Punjabis) are more than half a million among 33 million Canadians. To have nine Punjabi-origin MPs in the 308-member parliament is our big achievement,” said community leader Balwant Sanghera.
By Gurmukh Singh
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