The LPP fielded nine Indians, while the Conservatives put up 13. And in five seats in British Columbia and three in Ontario, the main contestants from the two parties were Indian immigrants—probably why the community’s vote was split between liberals and conservatives.
One Indian is also tipped to be a minister. The Liberal Parliamentary Party’s Ujjan Dosanjh, the first Indian to become governor of British Columbia (2000-2001), contested and won the federal elections for the first time. A confidante of prime minister Paul Martin, Dosanjh is hoping to land a berth in the new cabinet. The other winners: Dr Ruby Dhalla, Gurbax Malhi, Deepak Oberoi, Rahim Jaffer and Navdeep Bains. Incidentally, Bains and Malhi will be the only two turbaned Sikhs to sit in Canada’s House of Commons. That the foreigner issue doesn’t figure at all in the Canadian polls was driven home by the fact that Gurwant Grewal has become an MP in less than five years after acquiring citizenship.
