Twelve Indo-Canadians Elected To Council Around BC Including Newcomer Kelly Chahal In Abbotsford!
By R. Paul Dhillon
With News Files
SURREY – Punjabi-Canadian rock the BC civic election, making significant gains in seats and making a great impact in the BC civic elections.
At least two Punjabis have been elected Mayors and many city councillors and school trustees during November 15 municipal elections held across the province.
Collin Basran has been elected as the youngest Mayor in the city of Kelowna, while Akbal Singh Mund has won the mayoral election in Vernon. In Williams Lake, Surinderpal Singh Rathore was defeated in the mayoral race.
Twelve Punjabi or South Asian candidates in total have been elected as city councillors in different municipalities.
Moe Gill has been re-elected in Abbotsford, which has also elected Probation officer Kelly Chahal as city councillor. Preet Rai has been re-elected as school trustee in the same city.
In Burnaby, Sav Dhaliwal has been re-elected as city councillor, while Baljinder Narang and Harman Pandher have been re-elected as school trustees. Dave Birdi has been re-elected as city councillor in Fort Saint James and likewise Tom Gill has been re-elected for the same position in Surrey.
Terry Gidha, a long time city councillor in Mission was defeated. Mission had once elected first Indo Canadian Mayor Niranjan Singh Grewal. There is a street renamed after him in the city.
Both in Kamloops and Kelowna, Arjun Singh and Mohini Singh have been re-elected as city councillors respectively. From Prince Rupert, Gurvinder Singh Randhawa was elected as City Councillor. Also elected as city councillors are Sarabjit Rai from Osoyoos, Tarik Sayeed from Penticton, Sushil Thapar from Quesnel, Dave Raj Birdi from Fort St. John and Dalvir Nahal from Vernon.
Harman Pandher, Baljinder Narang have been re-elected as school trustees and Garry Thind makes his debut as elected school trustee in Surrey.
