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Every province in Canada has at
least one turbaned
Sikh as MLA
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Alberta now boasts of more Indo-Canadian
MLAs than even Ontario. Only British Columbia, with seven
Indo-Canadians elected in 2005, has more than Alberta |
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TORONTO:
A record five
Indo-Canadians have been elected as lawmakers in the March 3
elections in Canada's booming province of Alberta. Now, every
province in Canada will have at least one turbaned MLA. In the
outgoing 83-member Alberta Assembly, there was only one MLA of
Indian origin – Shiraz Sharif, who was born in East Africa.
This time, three
were elected from the city of Edmonton and two from Calgary. About
40,000 Indo-Canadians live in Calgary and Edmonton. Two of the five
new MLAs are unshaven Sikhs. The nation's parliament already has two
turbaned Sikh MPs Gurbax Malhi and Navdeep Bains.
With these
victories,
Alberta
now boasts of more Indo- Canadian MLAs than even
Ontario,
that has four, though it is home to over 60 per cent of people of
Indian origin in Canada.
Only British
Columbia, with seven Indo-Canadians elected to the Assembly in 2005,
has more than Alberta. Among those elected in Monday's elections in
Alberta
is 27-year-old law student Manjeet Bhullar. Premier Ed Stelmach
handpicked him for the Calgary Montrose constituency, which he
retained for the ruling Progressive Conservative (PC) party by
garnering 34.5 per cent of the vote.
 The big upset
was the victory of Darshan Kang of the opposition Liberal Party, who
unseated Shiraz Sharif of the ruling PC Party by just 98 votes in
the Calgary-McCall constituency. Kang polled 4,263 votes as against
4,165 for Sharif. In the last election in 2004, Kang had lost by
just 300 votes to Sharif, who held the seat for four consecutive
terms.
McCall is an
Indian-dominated area of
Calgary.
"But a majority of them are not Canadian citizens, otherwise my
victory margin would have been bigger," Kang said. "I am proud to be
a Canadian, and an Indian to represent this riding (constituency).
For the first time, there will be turbaned MLAs - myself and Manmeet
Bhullar – in all assemblies of Canada's 10 provinces," said Kang,
who came to
Canada
from Moga in Punjab in 1970.
In the Edmonton-Ellerslie
constituency, Naresh Bharadwaj of the ruling PC Party scored an
upset victory over fellow Indo- Canadian Bharat Agnihotri of the
Liberal Party. Agnihotri was the sitting MLA. Peter Sandhu of the
ruling party beat fellow Indo-Canadians Rick Murti of the New
Democratic Party and Sandeep Dhir of the Liberal Party in the
Edmonton- Manning constituency.
The fifth
Indo-Canadian winner was Raj Sherman, another newcomer who won the
Edmonton-Meadowlark seat for the ruling PC party. It was the 11th
consecutive win for the Progressive Conservative Party, that has
ruled oil-rich Alberta since 1971.
12
March 2008
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