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Two more Indo-Canadians join Ontario province cabinet
With the reshuffle, Ontario now has the highest number of Indo-Canadian cabinet ministers among any province in the country.
Representation of Indo-Canadians in the cabinet of Canada’s most populous province Ontario has tripled with two more members of the community being appointed in a major reshuffle on Friday.
With the reshuffle, Ontario now has the highest number of Indo-Canadian cabinet ministers among any province in the country. It equals the record for three, which was also in Ontario under the previous Liberal Party government of Kathleen Wynne.
In the previous ministry, Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government had one Indo-Canadian - Prabhmeet Sarkariya, who was the associate minister of small business and red tape reduction. Sarkariya has now been promoted to take over as president of the Treasury Board.
His prior portfolio will now be handled by one of the two Indo-Canadian newcomers, Nina Tangri.
The other entrant is Parm Gill, who has been appointed minister of citizenship and multiculturalism.
Gill, who represents the riding (as constituencies are called in Canada) of Milton in the provincial parliament, was born in Moga, Punjab. A businessman, Gill was earlier the parliamentary assistant for housing to the minister of municipal Affairs and housing.
Gill was a Conservative Party MP in the House of Commons between 2011 and 2015 representing Brampton-Springdale. In a tweet, Gill welcomed his latest responsibility: “Who would have thought a young boy who immigrated from India to Canada, raised by a single mother, would today be sworn in as minister of citizenship and multiculturalism for the province of Ontario.”
Like Gill, Tangri, who represents a riding in the Greater Toronto Area, Mississauga Streetsville, also served as a parliamentary assistant, to the minister of economic development, job creation, and trade.
Sarkaria, who represents Brampton South, was the only Indo-Canadian to serve even as a parliamentary assistant when the Doug Ford government was elected in June 2018. Originally, parliamentary assistant to the minister for community safety and correctional services, he later became parliamentary secretary to the solicitor general. It was only in June 2019 that he became an associate minister, and the first person wearing a turban to be appointed to the Ontario cabinet.
Ford was criticised at the start of the tenure for not including any Indo-Canadians, but with provincial elections due next June, and the significance of the community, he has increased their representation in the latest reshuffle.
