Sikh man leads Canadian party, in race to be Prime Minister
TORONTO: Thirty-eight-year-old lawyer Jagmeet Singh made history on Sunday as he became the first person belonging to a visible minority group, and obviously the first of Indian and Sikh heritage, to be elected leader of one of Canada’s three largest national political parties.
It was a whopping win, and a landslide. As the first ballot results were announced at the Metropolitan Ballroom in the Westin Harbour Castle Hotel in Toronto, Singh easily garnered votes, surpassing the 50% required to win the leadership of the New Democratic Party of Canada.
He will now captain the NDP in the next federal election in October 2019.
In his acceptance speech, Singh described his win as “an incredibly profound honour”. He also announced the beginning of the 2019 race to lead Canada, as he said, “Canadians deserve a government that understands the struggles people are facing right now. Most importantly, Canadians deserve a government that gets the job done. That’s why today I’m officially launching my campaign to be the next prime minister of Canada.”
Cheers and applause broke out among NDP members who had gathered at the venue for the announcement of the result. Four candidates were in the race for the leadership, but as the numbers for the first three were announced, it became obvious Singh had managed to gather well over the percentage needed to prevent another round of balloting, which was scheduled for October 8. In the end, of the nearly 66,000 votes cast, Singh tallied more than 35,000, almost three times the total for the runner-up, Ontario MP Charlie Angus, who had 12,705 votes.
Singh, who was denied a visa by India in December 2013 and has been critical of the Narendra Modi government, is a member of the Ontario provincial parliament, representing Bramalea-Gore-Malton.
This was his maiden foray into federal politics. Since his constituency lies in a suburb of Toronto, the majority of those packing the hall appeared to be his supporters, who waved the orange placards bearing the slogan, “Love & Courage”, the theme of his campaign.
He reiterated it while speaking after winning the vote, as he said his vision offered “the courage to fight the politics of fear, a politics of love to fight the growing politics of division”.
Singh attacked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, talking about job insecurity and accusing him of being someone who had only looked at “employment as a hobby”. He also spoke of prevalent racism, underscoring exactly how momentous this victory was: “Growing up with brown skin, long hair and a funny sounding name meant I faced some challenges. I’ve been stopped by the police multiple times for no other reason than the colour of my skin.”
Jagmeet Singh, 38, who won NDP leadership race in Canada on Sunday, will be the first turbaned Sikh to run for the country’s prime ministership in 2019. Here are five other Sikh trailblazers in Canadian politics:
Ujjal Dosanjh, 70, was the first Punjab-origin premier of the British Columbia and a former minister. He served as 33rd premier of BC from 2000 to 2001 and was Liberal MP from 2004 to 2011. He succeeded Herb Dhaliwal as Vancouver South MP in the Canadian House of Commons. Herb Dhaliwal, 65, was the first Sikh to become a federal cabinet minister in 1997 when the then PM Jean Chretien gave him revenue portfolio. Two years on, he became minister of fisheries & oceans. In 2002, he was appointed minister of natural resources and the minister with political responsibility for BC. He was elected to the House of Commons in 1993 as Liberal MP for Vancouver South. Nina & Gurmant Grewal, 58 and 59, are the first married couple in Canadian history to serve the House of Commons as Conservative MPs. First elected in 1997 and re-elected in 2000, Gurmant represented Newton-North Delta from 2004-05. Nina represented Fleetwood-Port Kells from 2004 to 2015.
Tim Uppal, 42, was the first turbaned Sikh to become a federal minister, when the then PM Stephen Harper appointed the Conservative MP in 2011. During his tenure as minister of state for democratic reform, he focused on overpopulated constituencies.
Harjit Singh Sajjan, 47 ,isa Liberal MP and the current minister of national defence the first Sikh to hold the position. Before politics, Sajjan was a detective investigating gangs for the Vancouver police and a regimental commander in the Canadian Armed Forces decorated for his service in Afghanistan.