The online petition is being organized by Calgary Board of Education, asking Calgary residents whether the elementary school from kindergarten to grade 4 — slated to open in 2017 in Martindale (Calgary) — should be named as Manmeet Singh Bhullar School or Martindale School.
CALGARY – A rare honour is on the cards for a Sikh-Canadian politician Manmeet Bhullar after an online petition was being circulated to get a school should be named after Bhullar, a member of legislative assembly of Alberta — nearly six months after his death in a road accident.
The online petition is being organized by Calgary Board of Education, asking Calgary residents whether the elementary school from kindergarten to grade 4 — slated to open in 2017 in Martindale (Calgary) — should be named as Manmeet Singh Bhullar School or Martindale School.
A store owner in Calgary Gurbaksh Singh said: “A school naming committee formed by a board of trustees of the upcoming school had suggested two names, and the committee had sought choices from people to recommend the name to the board of trustees. The need for such a survey arose after nearly 5,000 people, including me, had signed a petition, and requested the authorities at the Calgary Board of Education to name the upcoming school after Manmeet Bhullar.”
Gurbaksh had close ties with Bhullar.
Bhullar, 35, was MLA from Calgary Greenway constituency. He was elected for three terms in 2008, 2012, and 2015 on the progressive conservative party ticket. He was elected for the first time from Calgary Montrose constituency at the young age of 28, and had become the youngest member in Alberta. He also served as minister of human services, and minister for infrastructure. He died on 23 November last year in a highway crash, when he had stopped to assist a driver involved in a collision, and sustained fatal injuries after he was struck by a truck.
The citizens can participate in the online survey until May 31, and the Board of Trustees are expected to decide on the name by late June.
