15 Punjabi-origin candidates in fray
Tuesday, April 19, 2011The Tribune
At least 15 candidates of Punjabi origin, nine of them sitting Members of Parliament, are in the fray for the Canadian federal elections to be held on May 2. Among them are some popular names such as Ujjal Dosanjh, Sukh Dhaliwal, Neena Grewal, Jinny Sims, Gurbax Malh, Ruby Dhalla, Navdeep Bains, Devinder Shourie, Deepak Obhrai and Tim Uppal. Dosanjh, a former Premier of British Columbia, is contesting from the Vancouver South constituency as a Liberal Party candidate. Last time, he had won with a hair thin margin of about 20 votes. Dosanjh is being opposed by radical Sikhs.
Sukh Dhaliwal is the Liberal Party candidate for Surrey. She faces Neena Grewal of the Conservative Party and Jinny Sims of the NDP candidate.
Another Punjabi-origin candidate is Mani Kaur-Fallon of the Conservative Party. Shinder Purewal is the Liberal Party candidate from Surrey-North. He has remained a university teacher and has authored a book on violence. He is contesting against Dona Cadman, sitting Conservative MP. Purewal has been opposing the move to make citizenship test tougher. Another candidate in the fray is Jasbir Sandhu.
Mandeep Bhullar is contesting from Port Moody on the Liberal Party ticket. He is engaged in a campaign against the use of drugs. In Alberta, three Punjabi faces are contesting as Conservative Party candidates-Devinder Shourie, Tim Uppal and Deepak Obhrai.
Alberta is known as a stronghold of the Tories. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper belongs to this state. In Ontario, Gubax Malhi, Navdeep Bains and Ruby Dhalla are contesting as nominees of the Liberal Party. Ruby is being opposed by Param Gill of the Conservative Party in Brampton-Springdale while Malhi is pitted against Baljit Gosal of the Conservative Party.
