In the recent Canadian general election, incumbent Prime Minister Justin Trudeau won a third term, though his liberal party fell short of a majority — by 12 seats — winning in 158 out of 338 electoral districts (results were declared on September 20, 2021)
17 candidates of Indian origin have won. Out of these 16 are Punjabis (Chandrakanth Arya who hails from Karnataka has won from Nepean for a third successive time from riding of Nepean). The prominent winners in the election included; Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan from Vancouver South, Minister Bardish Chaggar from Waterloo, Minister Anita Anand from Oakvilla and Jagmeet Singh, who heads the left leaning New Democratic Party (NDP), from Burnaby South seat (he happens to be the first non-white to head a federal party). Singh’s NDP won 25 seats, way below expectations, but Trudeau’s government will be reliant on NDP and another party Yves-Francois Blanchet’s Bloc Quebecois to stay in power. Iqvinder Singh Gaheer, 28 a first time MP from Missisauga is a lawyer educated at Harvard law school.Other prominent individuals include Tim Uppal, a Former Minister, from the Conservatives.
Six turbaned Sikhs have won in the election. While Harjit Singh Sajjan, Randeep Singh Sarai, Iqwinder Singh Gaheer belong to the Liberal Party, Jagmeet Singh is leader of NDP and two conservatives; Tim Uppal and Jasraj Hallan represent the Conservative party.
While politicians of Indian origin had begun to make their mark before Justin Trudeau took over as Canadian PM in 2015 (Harbance Singh Dhaliwal of the Liberal Party, better known as Herb Dhaliwal, was appointed Revenue Minister in 1997 and in doing so became the first Sikh and Indian Canadian to become a member of the federal cabinet). The representation and clout of politicians of Indian origin has certainly increased in Trudeau’s tenure. Trudeau’s Liberal Party has assigned important positions to a number of individuals. Notably, a turbaned Sikh Harjit Singh Sajjan has been serving as Canada’s Defence Minister ever since Trudeau came into office. This position is especially important, because Canada is a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) a transatlantic security alliance, and of the five eyes (FVEY) alliance (other countries include US, UK, New Zealand, Australia) a very important intelligence alliance whose relevance has risen in the changing global geopolitical landscape. In October 2020, he had chaired a meeting of Defence Ministers of fvey countries.
Sajjan has also been at the forefront of pushing for asylum to Afghan refugees, including minorities. Jagmeet Singh, leader of the NDP, which supported Trudeau’s previous government and whose support will be essential for the new liberal party government — has taken a firm position on numerous social and economic issues. While Former US President Barack Obama and Former US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton endorsed Justin Trudeau, former Democratic leadership party candidate Bernie Sanders endorsed Jagmeet Singh. In a tweet, Sanders said
‘Canada goes to the polls Monday. There’s one party that stood up for working people in the pandemic. One leader who has the courage to make the wealthy pay their fair share so everyone gets the medication they need. That why I support @NDP and the @JagmeetSingh’
Jagmeet has endeared himself to large sections of the youth, by his progressive and bold stance on a number of issues; this includes Singh’s stance against Islamophobia, taxing the ultra rich (the NDP agenda for the current election including a number of measures in this direction), reconciliation with indigenous people and his progressive stance on lgbtq related issues .
While commenting on NDP’s economic vision, Singh said: ‘The approach of the past hasn’t worked for everyone. We need a new approach that makes the super-rich pay their fair share and that helps people get the services they need. The NDP will make different choices like investing in things that benefit the most Canadians—like universal pharmacare, universal childcare and paid sick leave’
At a time when the world is becoming more insular and individuals are facing economic hardships and disparity has risen not just in Canada, but globally as a result of the covid19 pandemic, Singh’s progressive agenda is noteworthy.
What also benefitted Singh was his effective use of social media platforms like tiktok and snap chat during his election campaign. Another interesting point to bear in mind is that amongst politicians of Indian origin, women too are at the forefront. Apart from two ministers in the Trudeau cabinet, Anita Anand and Bardish Chagger, other women who have triumphed in the election are Anju Dhillon, Ruby Sahota and Sonia Sidhu (all belonging to the liberal party). Anju Dhillon, a lawyer is the first person of South Asian origin to have won from the French-speaking province of Quebec (she won from Dorval-Lachine-LaSalle).
South Asian politicians, not just in Canada, are often viewed solely from the lens of their stance on important community issues. It is important to bear in mind that they have achieved success in the political sphere on the basis of their capabilities and competence. Their interventions on South Asia related matters do not always need to be linked to any deep rooted conspiracy. It is important for the media, particularly South Asian, to focus more on their political achievements, their stance on important social, economic and foreign policy issues and performance when entrusted with important administrative responsibilities and not just sensationalise statements made by them on issues pertaining to South Asia.
