6 Indo-Canadians elected to provincial legislature of Ontario

NEW DELHI: Six Indo-Canadians were elected to the provincial legislature of Ontario, even as the Progressive Conservative (PC) Party, led by Premier Doug Ford, was projected to win a majority of seats for a second term. All the elected Indian-origin politicians from the PC Party are Punjabis.
In Brampton East riding (constituency), in a major upset, PC candidate Hardeep Grewal defeated New Democratic Party incumbent Gurratan Singh who is the brother of high-profile member of federal parliament and NDP leader Jagmeet.Grewal is a newbie to politics and will be a first-time member of the provincial parliament.
Nina Tangri, who was the associate minister of small business and red tape reduction in the previous government, besides holding several other important positions, has been re-elected from Mississauga-Streetsville.
Prabhmeet Sarkaria, who in 2019 became the first turban-wearing minister in Ontario when he was appointed the associate minister of small business and red tape reduction, and later got a full cabinet rank as president of the treasury board in 2021, was re-elected from Brampton South. Parm Gill, the outgoing minister of citizenship and multiculturalism of Ontario since June 2021, retained the seat of Milton on the outskirts of Toronto.
Amarjot Sandhu, currently the chairman of the standing committee on finance and economic affairs and sitting member of provincial parliament since 2018, retained the Brampton West seat. Sandhu, who went to Canada as an international student from Punjab, was the founder of the International Students Federation and after graduation worked as a computer engineer before he was elected as an MPP in the 2018 provincial elections.
Deepak Anand, the MPP from the riding of Mississauga-Malton was also re-elected. His additional legislative roles included parliamentary assistant to the minister of labour, training, and skills development, and special advisor to the minister of economic development, job creation and trade, with a focus on trade relations between India and Ontario.