The diversity champion
Name: Deepak Obhrai Age: 66 Current job: MP for Calgary Forest Lawn Deepak Obhrai is the dean of the Conservative race, having been elected in his eastern Calgary riding seven times since 1997.
Elected first as a Reformer and then for the Canadian Alliance, Obhrai briefly sat with Progressive Conservative MPs as Stephen Harper was busy uniting the right. He had a front-row seat for the birth of the modern Conservative party from multiple angles.
Despite his long service, Obhrai was never elevated to Harper’s cabinet, instead serving as a parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs for almost a decade. It’s a post that allowed him to travel the world and rub elbows with world leaders.
By all accounts, the Tanzania-born MP is an extreme long shot to lead the party. But Obhrai has used his campaign to urge his fellow candidates to ease off antiimmigrant and xenophobic rhetoric.
Obhrai has attacked Kellie Leitch’s proposal to screen immigrants for “anti-Canadian values,” and has publicly expressed concern that the Conservative Party could become a “white people’s club” due to membership fees.
Inclusivity, Obhrai stated when he launched his campaign, would be at the heart of his pitch to the party membership. Add to that what he calls “core conservative values” — fiscal discipline, accountable government, and support for national defence — and you’ve got the gist of Obhrai’s appeal.
“My campaign will not only focus on core conservative values but will also be based on inclusion practices and embracing the diversity that is Canada,” Obhrai wrote. “I wish to break the proverbial glass ceiling on institutional discrimination. I stand with young Canadians, new Canadians, with all Canadians.”
Other than that, Obhrai hasn’t officially proposed a whole lot of policy. He has proposed a federally funded centre to address homegrown terrorism, which would work with the community (he only mentions the Muslim community) to counter radical narratives and recruitment. The Liberal government has proposed a similar structure.
Chance of winning:
Greater than Rick Peterson, less than almost everybody else.