Toronto, Jan. 21, 2006
SAN GREWAL
STAFF REPORTER
Toronto Star
The good news for Liberal incumbent Colleen Beaumier
is that her Brampton West riding, Liberal red for
decades, could be won with the Punjabi-Canadian vote.
The problem: this time, her Conservative opponent,
like the other three incumbents in Brampton, is Punjabi.
Punjabi power is flourishing across burgeoning Brampton,
where the South Asian population has grown to about
85,000 people about 21 per cent of the city's
residents. By deploying political strategies that
appeal to recent immigrants, Punjabi Canadians have
emerged to form an almost impenetrable political monopoly
across a ring of ridings north of Mississauga.
Drafting friends and family to win nominations, launching
platforms that highlight immigrant concerns and utilizing
a huge volunteer network to pull the vote gives Punjabi
Canadian candidates distinct advantages.
"In these ridings it's impossible for a non-ethnic
candidate to win a nomination now, much less a campaign,"
says Brampton's Sam Basra, a Fijian of Punjabi descent
who arrived in Toronto 20 years ago and ran federally
for the Conservatives during the '90s in Etobicoke
North.
Basra says that in such a tight-knit community, the
nomination process works in favour of Punjabi-Canadians
with political aspirations. "They sign up as
many friends and family as they need to take out memberships,
pay the fee so they can vote, and then they win the
nominations."
Some, Basra claims, don't even care which party they're
nominated for.
His implication that Punjabi-Canadians are now able
to hijack the vote gets a perhaps unexpected rebuttal
from Andrew Kania, a non-Punjabi lawyer who was on
his way to getting the Liberal nod for Brampton-Springdale
in 2004 only to see Prime Minister Paul Martin
parachute in Punjabi-Canadian Ruby Dhalla. She proceeded
to win the riding handily.
"The Punjabi community is looking for good,
qualified candidates who will be able to help the
riding and the community," Kania insists. "They
are not looking at the colour of people's skin. I
know many Punjabis who will refuse to support a Punjabi
candidate if they are not qualified."
Kania says the Punjabi community works within the
rules of the nomination process, and if they are able
to sign up enough members to get a candidate nominated,
that is simply a sign of political deftness.
His disappointment over Dhalla's appointment in 2004
left him upset with the Martin camp, not the Punjabi
community, he says.
Often, Basra says, the hardest race for a Punjabi
candidate to win isn't the election but the nomination,
when competing with other Punjabi hopefuls. "The
one who wins the Liberal nomination in the Brampton
ridings now wins the election."
Such was the case for Navdeep Bains (Mississauga-Brampton
South), a political newcomer when he secured the nomination
for the newly created riding in 2004. He did it by
defeating three political veterans who fought over
the votes of the same clutch of party members.
"I was able to obtain new young members, professionals,"
Bains explains. "There was an infusion of new
people."
It didn't hurt that Bains was also a well-known member
of the community who'd attended Punjabi language lessons
at the Dixie Gurdwara as a child. Situated on the
edge of his riding, at Derry and Dixie Rds., the Sikh
temple is the largest in North America, and Bains
still regularly attends services there, some of which
draw 30,000 congregants over a weekend.
But he insists that his support transcends the Punjabi
community. Having graduated from York University and
the University of Windsor and worked as an
analyst at Ford Bains says he's part of a new,
second-generation professional class with ties to
many community and business organizations.
He won in a landslide in 2004, with a margin of more
than 14,000 votes over Conservative Parvinder Sandhu.
Up against relatively unknown rivals this time
Conservative Arnjeet Sangha and the NDP's Nirvan Balkissoon
he may be among the few Liberals who manage
to widen the gap on Monday.
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`I'm here to represent each and every individual in
my riding'
Ruby Dhalla
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The popularity of Punjabi media also gives candidates
such as Bains, Dhalla and Brampton's other Liberal
incumbent, Gurbax S. Malhi (Bramalea-Gore-Malton),
tremendous exposure. "They have each been on
the show, I would say, about 10 times this year, on
special occasions or to give a message," says
Joginder Bassi, who has been on Punjabi radio in Toronto
for 24 years. Bassi hosts Gaunda Punjab on CIRV (88.9
FM), which draws 150,000 listeners. Its 40 hours of
programming a week give fans a constant fill of their
favourite topic: politics.
Bassi says most will vote on a single set of issues
key to them.
"Listeners are behind candidates who help them
sponsor parents and family from India. Helping with
the backlog of visa applications. Speeding up the
application process. Getting seniors who have immigrated
here pensions at age 65.
"Immigration-related issues are the most important
thing for Punjabi voters."
More important, in the long run, than the issue of
same-sex marriage, despite the community's social
conservatism and the stir the issue created when the
Liberals pushed it into law with a divided
response among the Brampton MPs.
It's not surprising to see what dominates the parliamentary
records of those MPs: Measures to get better recognition
of foreign professionals' credentials; bringing passport
offices to their ridings; pressuring Ottawa to speed
up visa applications.
Another factor in the rise of Punjabi-power in Peel
Region was described in recent research by Ryerson
University's Andrew Matheson: Brampton's huge growth
prompted a redrawing of riding boundaries, meaning
that newcomers like Bains haven't had to topple strong
incumbents.
Inside Ruby Dhalla's campaign headquarters on Kennedy
Rd. near Springdale an area often dubbed "Singhdale"
40 volunteers buzz around the incumbent, who
is being challenged in this election by Conservative
Sam Hundal and NDP candidate Anna Mather.
Some serve tea and samosas to visitors, while others
are on the phones reminding supporters about the advance
polls. About 300 are out knocking on doors, Dhalla
says. In the office, most are speaking Punjabi.
But, like Malhi and Bains, Dhalla is keen to point
out that she's not in politics to represent only one
group.
"As a representative I'm here to represent each
and every individual in my riding, regardless of race
or ethnicity," she says.
A visit to Colleen Beaumier's website suggests she
would love the same type of support from the Punjabi
community her colleagues receive. Up top, she mentions
her visits to Punjab to witness the conditions there,
in order to better connect with her Punjabi constituents.
It's a bond that comes more naturally to her opponents
in Brampton West (Conservative Baljit Gosal and NDP
candidate Jagtar Shergill), and clearly comes easily
to colleague Malhi.
Malhi won in 2004 by a margin of 19 points over his
Tory rival. His challengers this time, Conservative
John Sprovieri and Cesar Martello of the NDP, have
a long way to go to find the community support he
enjoys.
"I attend 25 weddings a month," Malhi says,
sitting in his constituency office, around the corner
from a fast-growing Punjabi commercial strip on Airport
Rd. Hanging there is a large photo of Malhi shaking
hands with Pierre Trudeau.
"There are between 700 and 2,000 people who
attend each wedding," he says. "I can't
say no that's our culture. I attend over 500
events altogether each year in the community."
When it comes to votes, you can do the math.