TORONTO: Two women of Pakistani origin, Iqra Khalid and Salma Zahid, have been re-elected to Canada’s parliament, marking a proud achievement for the Pakistani diaspora and highlighting the growing contributions of Pakistani-Canadians to Canadian public life. Liberal incumbent Iqra Khalid secured her fourth consecutive term from Mississauga-Erin Mills, leading her opponent by over 5,000 votes. Overcome with emotion, she hugged her father as celebrations broke out. Originally from Pakistan, Khalid immigrated to Canada in 1998.
Meanwhile, Salma Zahid won her seat from Scarborough Centre-Don Valley East with 21,000 votes. Salam, who holds an MBA from Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad and a Master’s from the University of London, was first elected in 2015.
Meanwhile, a record number of Indian-origin candidates are set to be elected to the House of Commons. Twenty-two Indian-origin candidates from Carney’s Liberal Party and Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative Party are set to become members of the Canadian Parliament. The number of Indian-origin MPs in the outgoing House of Commons, the lower house, was 17. The good show by the Indian-origin candidates came even as 46-year-old New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Jagmeet Singh failed to retain his Burnaby Central seat, finishing a distant third with 18.1% of the votes. The seat was won by Liberal Party’s Wade Chang, who secured 42.1% of the votes. Sukh Dhaliwal (Liberal) was leading from Surrey–Newton and was on course to securing a seat for a record sixth term. Originally from Punjab, the 65-year-old former engineer and land surveyor first represented Newton–North Delta from 2006 to 2011 and was then re-elected from Surrey–Newton in 2011, 2015, 2019, and 2021. Another Liberal candidate, Randeep Sarai, won from Surrey Centre. A skilled lawyer and entrepreneur, Sarai successfully retained his seat. Born and raised in Vancouver, he has represented the constituency since 2015. Other winners from the Liberal Party include Parm Bains (Steveston–Richmond East), Gurbux Saini (Fleetwood–Port Kells), Anju Dhillon (Quebec), Ruby Sahota (Brampton North), Iqwinder Gaheer (Mississauga–Malton), Maninder Sidhu (Brampton East), Sonia Sidhu (Brampton South), Anita Anand (Oakville East), and Bardish Chagger (Waterloo). Sukhman Singh Gill won the Abbotsford–South Langley seat and is likely to be the youngest MP in the new House. Indy Panchi won from New Westminster–Burnaby–Maillardville, becoming the first Indian-origin MP from New Westminster. Other Indian-origin MPs from the Conservative Party include Jasraj Singh Hallan (Calgary East), Dalwinder Gill (Calgary McKnight), Amanpreet Singh Gill (Calgary Skyview), and Tim Uppal (Edmonton Mill Woods). Amandeep Judge (Brampton North), Bob Dosanjh (Brampton East), Sukhdeep Kang (Brampton South), Amarjeet Gill (Brampton West), Arpan Khanna (Oxford). There are around 1.8 million Indo-Canadians and one million non-resident Indians in Canada, making up over 3% of its population. Canada also hosts approximately 427,000 Indian students.