CHANDIGARH: The minority government of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will need the support of 40-year old Jagmeet Singh, Chief of New Democratic Party (NDP) if it wants the second term in office.
Jagmeet, who belongs to Thikriwala village in Barnala district of Punjab is set to play the role of kingmaker in Canada with his 24 MPs. A former criminal lawyer, Singh was elected the head of NDP in 2017. He speaks English, French and Punjabi fluently and won from Burnaby South seat. He recently got married to fashion designer Gurkiran Kaur.
"Thank you, Canada. What a night – and what an unforgettable journey this campaign has been. With our new NDP caucus in Ottawa, I’m incredibly excited to continue our critical work to achieve the priorities that we’ve heard from people across this country,’’ he tweeted.
Jagmeet's great grandfather Captain Hira Singh and Praja Mandal (self-rule movement in princely states) founder Sewa Singh Thikriwala were cousins. "It is a great moment for the village since the next PM of Canada will be decided and sworn in only with NDP’s support,’’ said a villager.
In the just-concluded Canadian elections, 18 Sikh MPs have been elected to the Canadian House of Commons, while there are only 13 Sikh MPs in Indian Lok Sabha. The province of Ontario alone has sent 12 Indo-Canadians to parliament, while British Columbia (BC) elected four, Alberta three and Quebec one. Among the Punjabi MPs 13 are from Liberal Party, four from Conservative Party and one from NDP.
Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan has won from his sitting seat Vancouver South. Sajjan hails from Bambeli village in Hoshiarpur district of Punjab and his extended family still lives in the village.
The families of Punjabi origin candidates who won the polls are celebrating in different parts of Punjab. "We are distributing sweets in the whole village as it was the matter of great pride for us that Sajjan who belongs to our village and is a minister in Canada has again won the elections," sarpanch of the village Paramjit Singh said. Earlier Sajjan had served in the Canadian army and headed the same regiment that was instrumental in forcing the Komagata Maru ship to leave in 1914.
Similarly, sitting MP from Brampton Centre Ramesh Sangha defeated two Indo-Canadians -- Pawanjit Gosal of Conservative Party and Baljit Bawa of the PPC. He had migrated to Canada in 1995 and hails from Lesriwal village in Jalandhar.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party held onto power in a nail-biter of a Canadian general election on Monday, but as a weakened minority government.