Canada election: Record number of Indian-origin candidates set for victory

India Today

29-04-2025

A record number of Indian-origin candidates are set to be elected to the House of Commons even as Liberal Party leader and Prime Minister Mark Carney pulled off a victory in the general election in Canada on Tuesday. Twenty-two Indian-origin candidates from Carney's Liberal Party and Pierre Poilievre's Conservative Party are set to become members of the Canadian Parliament. The number of Indian-origin MPs in the outgoing House of Commons, the lower house, was 17.advertisementThe good show by the Indian-origin candidates came even as 46-year-old New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Jagmeet Singh failed to retain his Burnaby Central seat, finishing a distant third with 18.1% of the votes. The seat was won by Liberal Party's Wade Chang, who secured 42.1% of the votes.The Carney-led Liberal Party has secured a fourth consecutive term but fell just short of an outright majority. While the Liberals were set to win 168 seats, an outright majority needed 172 seats.
A majority would have strengthened Carney's position in negotiations over tariffs with US President Donald Trump, experts believe.Carney had vowed to take a firm stance with Washington on its import tariffs and said Canada would need to invest billions to reduce its reliance on the US. Voting was held for the 343-member House of Commons—the lower house of Parliament. A party needs 172 seats to form a government.advertisementFinal results are likely to be confirmed by April 30.INDIAN-ORIGIN LEADERS SHINE IN LIBERAL PARTYSukh Dhaliwal (Liberal) was leading from Surrey–Newton and was on course to securing a seat for a record sixth term.Originally from Punjab, the 65-year-old former engineer and land surveyor first represented Newton–North Delta from 2006 to 2011 and was then re-elected from Surrey–Newton in 2011, 2015, 2019, and 2021.Another Liberal candidate, Randeep Sarai, won from Surrey Centre. A skilled lawyer and entrepreneur, Sarai successfully retained his seat. Born and raised in Vancouver, he has represented the constituency since 2015.Other winners from the Liberal Party include Parm Bains (Steveston–Richmond East), Gurbux Saini (Fleetwood–Port Kells), Anju Dhillon (Quebec), Ruby Sahota (Brampton North), Iqwinder Gaheer (Mississauga–Malton), Maninder Sidhu (Brampton East), Sonia Sidhu (Brampton South), Anita Anand (Oakville East), and Bardish Chagger (Waterloo).INDIAN-ORIGIN CANDIDATES FROM CONSERVATIVESSukhman Singh Gill won the Abbotsford–South Langley seat and is likely to be the youngest MP in the new House.Indy Panchi won from New Westminster–Burnaby–Maillardville, becoming the first Indian-origin MP from New Westminster.Other Indian-origin MPs from the Conservative Party include Jasraj Singh Hallan (Calgary East), Dalwinder Gill (Calgary McKnight), Amanpreet Singh Gill (Calgary Skyview), and Tim Uppal (Edmonton Mill Woods). Amandeep Judge (Brampton North), Bob Dosanjh (Brampton East), Sukhdeep Kang (Brampton South), Amarjeet Gill (Brampton West), Arpan Khanna (Oxford).advertisementThere are around 1.8 million Indo-Canadians and one million non-resident Indians in Canada, making up over 3% of its population. Canada also hosts approximately 427,000 Indian students.