It would appear the recent victory Navdeep Singh Bains MP has encouraged Canadian Sikh not only to welcome this but to consider if Canada is ready for a Sikh Prime Minister.
Whilst the so called World leaders such as Britain do not even have a Junior Minister, let alone a Minister for the Labour Party.
Someone who identifies themselves as ‘Jodha’ posted the message below on thelangarhall.com:
I was waiting until after the election to write this post as I didn’t want my personal thoughts to be in anyway seen as promotion or endorsement.
I have been a fan of Navdeep Singh Bains for many years now. I still remember his victory into the Canadian parliament as the first Amritdhari Sikh 4 years ago and I believe the youngest elected Liberal MP (26 years old) at that time. My respect for him grew, in what I believe, was his principled opposition to an overstretching then-Jathedar Vedanti on the issue of same-sex marriages.
Well many Sikhs as well as many others Canadians in the Mississauga-Brampton South riding, continue to support and ‘accept’ Navdeep. Just this month he successfully won his third term.
Despite the Conservative Party in Canada’s continued ascendance and stronger showing in this election (certain recounts are still occurring, but the Conservative Party has 143 of the 308, still short of the 155 needed to form a majority government), the 3 Sikh Liberal MPs of the Toronto area all maintained their seats – Navdeep Bains, Ruby Dhalla (beat Conservative Parm Gill by a narrow 718 votes), and Gurbax Malhi. In all, the Sikh-Canadians, increased their contingents from 7 to 8 MPs after this election. (Navdeep Bains, Ruby Dhalla, Gurbax Malhi, Ujjal Dosanjh, Sukh Dhaliwal, Nina Grewal, and newly-elected Devinder Shory and Tim Uppal).
Tim Singh Uppal is from Calgary Edmonton (thanks Phulkari). Uppal is a member of the Conservate Party, is the third turbaned Sikh Member of Parliament, and the second Amritdhari after Navdeep. He also has a very nice kulhi dhari.
Also of significant note, Vancouver South’s Ujjal Dosanjh squeaked a victory in his riding, after an automatic recount, winning by only 22 votes. Dosanjh seems now to have his sights on the race to become leader of the Liberal Party. Still many are critical of Dosanjh’s inability to speak French as a detriment to such aspirations.
Navdeep Bains, however, seems to be his way to learning French. He has spent recent time studying French in Montreal. Such a skill may serve him well in the future. Although the Liberals will still have to wait for some time for improved election results, some senior Liberal party members see him as having the potential, as one stated, Sikhdom will be hoping and waiting.
Still I can’t help but leave you all with one possible musing: when we look at the way that many Americans have rallied behind their perception of Barack Obama as a symbol of ‘change’ and a changing America, could Navdeep Singh Bains play this same role in a future Canada?…..yes, I know the PM is not an elected position.
