TORONTO – Ontario Liberal leadership contender Harinder Takhar was never in to win but is hoping that by using his large South Asian delegates – he will be a “King-Maker” at this weekend’s leadership convention in Toronto.
Takhar, who is using the oft-employed strategy by Indo-Canadian politicians (Federal Liberal turncoat Ujjal Dosanjh comes to mind during his run for the NDP leadership which he succeeded only to crash and burn in one of the worst election outing in the BC NDP’s history, reducing elected MLAs to just two seats) of mass signs ups in his own community, has been facing flak from the Toronto media, who has taken him to task on a variety of things.
Over the past couple of months, the Toronto Star newspaper has written some scathing stories about the Indo-Canadian MPP from Mississauga-Erindale with headlines such as: ‘Harinder Takhar no beacon of renewal for Ontario’s Liberals’ and ‘Harinder Takhar as deputy premier is a scary thought’.
In the latter, writer Martin Regg Cohn called him an “impersonator”, accused of him running an ethnic campaign and even questioned his narrative of being impoverished when he first came to Canada, wrote Yahoo! Canada News..
For his part, Takhar says that he’s not sure what to make of the flurry of Toronto Star articles.
“It’s interesting, I don’t even know [Cohn],” Takhar told Yahoo! Canada News on Tuesday.
“I don’t know what to say. Maybe this guys is getting his cues, maybe he has his own agenda or maybe someone is working with him. But I don’t pay any attention to him. I just laugh it off.”
With regard to the allegation about his campaign primarily focusing on Indo-Canadian Liberal members and delegates, Takhar says he’s done nothing wrong.
“We shouldn’t be pigeon-holing people into different groups. We are all Canadians, we are all Ontarions. I have been here for 38 years. I got married here, my kids were born here, they graduated from here. I see everybody as Ontarians and see everybody as Canadians,” he said.
“You focus on your strengths and that’s what you do. That’s what this business is all about.”
Takhar — who goes into this weekend’s leadership convention at 4th place with 244 (13.3 per cent) of the total delegates — says he’s now focused on attracting second ballot votes.
But Takhar really hopes to be a kingmaker and get a cushy ride to the Deputy Premier’s office.
Good work Harinder in using the Desi Posse!
