17 Canadians of Indian origin have emerged victorious in the general election held over the weekend.
NDP leader Jagmeet Singh and Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan are among the 17 politicians who will represent various electoral districts of Canada in the parliament.
Jagmeet Singh, who created history in 2017 after becoming the first person of Indian origin to be elected as a leader of any federal party in Canada, has won his seat by nearly 40 per cent vote share.
Leader of New Democratic Party, Singh said he would “keep fighting to make sure that the super-wealthy pay their fair share”.
“We’re going to fight for you. We’ve seen you. We’ve heard your stories. We’re going to fight for you,” he said.
42-year-old Singh won from the Burnaby South seat.
“I want to say that Canadians know that you can count on the New Democrats to continue fighting for you as we’ve fought for you in the pandemic when times are difficult when people were struggling when people were worried about their future. We were there for you,” Jagmeet Singh said in his concession speech on Monday, after his party emerged as the fourth-largest group, behind Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party, the principal opposition Conservatives and the Bloc Quebecois, which was on course to capture 34 seats in the Canada elections.
Justine Trudeau won the third term for his Liberal Party after he called an early election, resulting in the status quo. Liberal Party has won or is leading on 156 seats, 14 less than the the number needed for a simple majority in the House of Commons.
Trudeau had three ministers of Indian origin in his cabinet – Harjit Sajjan, Anita Anand and Bardish Chagger, all of whom have won their respective seats.
Jagmeet Singh won by nearly 40 per cent of the vote share.
Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan has been re-elected from Vancouver-South, with nearly 49 per cent of the vote share. In his speech after the results were announced, Sajjan said, “My community knows me. So when we talk about things that happened 10, 15, 20, 30 years ago, we’re going to take action. And now that more women are coming forward, having the confidence to come forward, yes, we’re taking action.”
“I’m just ecstatic,” said Anita Anand, who was declared the winner in Oakville with a nearly 46 per cent vote share.
Another Liberal minister Chagger was declared the winner of Waterloo with a 44.8 per cent vote share. “This is a tremendous community to be able to represent,” 41-year-old Chagger was quoted as saying by the CTV News.
Among other winners from the Liberal Party are Kamal Khera from Brampton West, Ruby Sahota from Brampton North, Sonia Sidhu from Brampton South, Maninder Sidhu from Brampton East, Sukh Dhaliwal from Surrey-Newton, George Chahal from Calgary Skyview in Alberta, Arif Virani from Parkdale-High Park, Randeep Sarai from Surrey Centre, Anju Dhillon from Dorval-Lachine-LaSalle, Chandra Arya from Nepean, and Iqwinder Gaheer from Mississauga-Malton who was a first-time candidate.
Tim Uppal from Edmonton Mill Woods and Jasraj Singh Hallan from Calgary Forest Lawn seat have won their respective seats for the Conservative Party.
