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Sikh candidates score thumping victory in Canadian elections 
Ujjal Dosanjh wins by wafer-thin margin, rest all Punjabis retain seats
WSN Bureau

VANCOUVER/TORONTO: Though Canadian PM Stephen Harper’s gameplan of going in for polls a third time in four years did not give him a firm control over Parliament, his Conservative Party did improve the tally while falling short of a majority in the House of Commons. Complete results were still awaited till this edition was going to the press. All the sitting seven Indian-Canadian MPs were returned.

Ujjal Dosanjh, the Liberal heavy weight, survived a scare, winning by just 700 votes. Ruby Dhalla, Navdeep Bains and Gurbax Malhi, all from Toronto area, all three sitting MPs and all from opposition Liberal Party, retained their seats comfortably.

Tim Singh Uppal, another Punjabi, won from Alberta province.

Conservatives seemed headed for 145 in the 308 member House, about 20 more than in the last house which will now have eight Indian-Canadian MPs. Opposition Liberal Party tumbled from 95 seats to 77 while smaller New Democratic Party (NDP) made major gains, securing 37 seats.

The regional Bloc Quebecois won 48 out of the 75 seats in French-speaking Quebec.

Dhalla beat Parm Gill of the ruling Conservative Party and Mani Singh of the NDP to win her Brampton-Springdale seat for the third time. Malhi, known for having become the the first turbaned MP in Canada in 1993, won for the sixth time from Bramalea-Gore-Malton.

Bains also won easily for the third time in Mississauga-Brampton South.
In British Columbia province, former Canadian health minister Ujjal Dosanjh won in Vancouver South.

Nina Grewal of the ruling party also retained Fleetwood-Port Kells seat for the third time.

The highest-ranking Indian-Canadian in the current government, Deepak Obhrai, also won his East Calgary seat for the fifth time.

The sitting Liberal Party MP, Sukh Dhaliwal, was ahead of Sandeep Pandher in Newton-Delta in British Columbia.

There is talk of elevating Deepak Obhrai to ministership.

Wahid Khan who crossed floors to become Conservative, lost the election to the Liberals.

A clear loser in the election was the opposition Liberal Party, whose membership in Parliament apparently dropped to 78 seats from 103. Though he conceded defeat, the Liberals’ leader, Stéphane Dion, gave no indication that he would step down.

Harper had set a fixed election date of October 2009, an idea introduced with much fanfare, but abandoned last month when he called this election. He was relying on the strong economy but the sudden market nosedive of capitalism left him at sea.
The New York Times said "Harper made an undesirable situation even worse for his party by projecting an attitude of nonchalance."

For Mr. Harper to achieve a majority in Parliament, it was essential for him to expand from his base in Western Canada and substantially improve his party’s standing in Ontario and Quebec, which control 181 of the 308 seats.  

15 October 2008
 

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