BATHINDA: In a major political development from across the Atlantic, 17 Indo-Canadians have won from their seats in the recently concluded 44th Canadian federal elections. Of the 17 winning candidates, 16 are from the Punjabi community.
While 14 belong to the the ruling Liberal party, 2 are from the Conservative party, and one from the New Democratic Party. All the three sitting Punjabi ministers in the previous Liberal party government have also succeeded in retaining their seats.
The Indo-Canadians have won from 8 seats in Ontario, 5 from British Columbia, 3 in Alberta and 1 in Quebec provinces. Out of its 14, Liberal party has won all 8 from Ontario, 4 from British Columbia and 1 each from Alberta and Quebec.
The Conservatives have won both its seats from Alberta, while NDP has won its lone seat from British Columbia where party president Jagmeet Singh has retained his seat. In all, 49 Indian-origin candidates were in the fray, 17 from the Liberal Party and 16 from the Conservative party.
However, this cannot be termed as the best performance by the community, as in the 2019 elections, 19 MPs of Indian-origin had won in Canada. In 2019, Punjabis had won all the 5 ridings in Brampton, but this time they lost one seat as Conservative party candidate Jagdeep Singh was defeated by a margin of 4,960 votes. Brampton has a sizeable Punjabi population, and a large number of students who immigrate to Canada reside in the locality.
