Toronto, May 3 (IANS) Canada’s ruling Conservative Party was returned to power with a majority in the parliamentary elections Monday night.
The party, which missed the majority mark in 2006 and 2008, won 166 seats in the 308-member House of Commons.
But many Indo-Canadian MPs, including former Canadian health minister Ujjal Dosanjh, Canada’s first Sikh MP Ruby Dhalla, longest-serving Indo-Canadian MP Gurbax Malhi, Navdeep Bains and Sukh Dhaliwal lost their seats. They all represented the opposition Liberal Party that was reduced to just 35 seats.
Dosanjh, who won by about 20 votes in 2008, lost this time to his rival Wai Young of the ruling party in Vancouver South.
Dhalla, who in 2004 became the first Sikh woman MP in Canada, lost to fellow Indo-Canadian Parm Gill of the ruling party in Brampton-Springdale on the outskirts of Toronto.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney had made it their mission to wrest this seat from Dhalla. The prime minister had visited the constituency four times and even roped in Bollywood star Akshay Kumar for campaigning.
Three-time MP Navdeep Bains, who had held the Mississauga-Brampton South seat since 2004, was also routed this time.
Six-time MP Gurbax Malhi, who created history by becoming the first turbaned Sikh MP in Canada in 1993, was also unseated by fellow Indo-Canadian Bal Gosal of the ruling party in Bramalea-Gore-Malton here.
Former Canada-India Business Council (CIBC) president Sarkar Rana also lost in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough Rouge.
Sitting MP Sukh Dhaliwal was beaten by Jinny Sims (Joginder Kaur) of the New Democratic Party (NDP) in Newton-North Delta on the suburbs of Vancouver. Sims becomes the first Indo-Canadian MP for the NDP.
In fact, the NDP got another Indo-Canadian MP when its candidate Jasbir Sandhu beat Shinder Purewal of the Liberal Party in the Vancouver suburb of Surrey North.
But from the ruling Conservative Party, all its sitting Indo-Canadian MPs – Deepak Obhrai (Calgary East), MP Devinder Shory (Calgary Northeast), Tim Uppal (Edmonton-Sherwood) and Nina Grewal (Fleetwood-Port Kells) – retained their seats.
Twenty-three Indo-Canadian candidates were in the fray this time. But the 41st parliament will have eight Indo-Canadian MPs against nine in the outgoing House.
Canada also made history Monday when the left-leaning NDP became the official opposition party for the first time by winning 102 seats, replacing the Liberal Party.
More importantly, Canada’s French-speaking Quebec province rejected separatist Bloc Quebecois party and instead voted for the nationalist NDP for the first time.
In fact, Bloc Quebecois was reduced to just four seats from 48 last time, with its leader Gilles Duceppe losing his own seat.
The Green Party also made its entry into parliament with its leader Elizabeth May winning her seat.
Canadian foreign minister Lawrence Cannon was among those who lost Monday.
(Gurmukh Singh can be contacted at gurmukh.s@ians.in)
