Premier Christy Clark made the announcement Wednesday evening during a women’s event in Surrey where lawyer Puneet Sandhar was announced as the party’s candidate for Surrey-Panorama for the May 2017 election. The news did not go down well with a number of prominent BC Liberal supporters who were interested in running in the predominantly Indo-Canadian-South Asian populated riding and are angry at the Premier and the party for not holding a nomination in the riding. “This is another reason why the party will not do well in Surrey this time around as they are not being fair to all those who want to run in a fair political process of getting nominated,” said one prominent BC Indo-Canadian Liberal who helped out with Peter Fassbender’s campaign in the last election. “Power has gone to their heads and this will be their downfall. I won’t be supporting these candidates.” There are also rumours that the NDP is trying to field former NDP MP Jinny Sims in hopes of winning the seat for the party. Sims will be a controversial choice if she agrees to take the provincial NDP bait and it will definitely bring another hard fight against her from her federal opponent MP Sukh Dhaliwal, who easily defeated her in the last election.
By R. Paul Dhillon
SURREY – Premier Christy Clark made the announcement Wednesday evening during a women’s event in Surrey where lawyer Puneet Sandhar was announced as the party’s candidate for Surrey-Panorama for the May 2017 election.
The news did not go down well with a number of prominent BC Liberal supporters who were interested in running in the predominantly Indo-Canadian-South Asian populated riding and are angry at the Premier and the party for not holding a nomination in Surrey-Panorama.
“This is another reason why the party will not do well in Surrey this time around as they are not being fair to all those who want to run in a fair political process of getting nominated,” said one prominent BC Indo-Canadian Liberal who helped out with Peter Fassbender’s campaign in the last election.
“Power has gone to their heads and this will be their downfall. I won’t be supporting these candidates,” he said, asking that his name not be used as he is still active in the party.
“It’s an honour to be named the candidate for Surrey-Panorama in the upcoming provincial election,” said Sandhar. “Surrey is a growing, vibrant city that has given so much to me and my family. Now it’s my time to give back by running to be a strong voice for our community in the Legislature, where I will work tirelessly to deliver on our priorities and needs.”
There are also rumours that the NDP is trying to field former NDP MP Jinny Sims in hopes of winning the seat for the party. Sims will be a controversial choice if she agrees to take the provincial NDP bait and it will definitely bring another hard fight against her from her federal opponent MP Sukh Dhaliwal, who easily defeated her in the last election.
Many BC Liberal insiders say Dhaliwal was instrumental in getting Sandhar the nomination and personally requested his friend Premier Clark to go with her and obviously he will be backing the candidate. But if Sims decide to enter the fray – he will have to double or triple his effort against her due to their federal rivalry.
Sandhar immigrated to Canada from India in 2002, and quickly established herself in her career as a named partner with Sanghera Sandhar Law Group in Surrey after being called to the BC Bar in 2006. She holds a BA (Hons) and an LLB from Guru Nanak Dev University in India.
Outside of her role as a mother of two and fulltime solicitor, Sandhar is an active community leader, serving as a member of various organizations, such as: the Board of Legal Services Society British Columbia, Board of Variance with the City of Surrey, Advisory Board of Resource Works, and Board of Punjab Digital Library. She is also director of the South Asian Business Association of B.C and sits on the Mayor’s Business Advisory Committee for the City of Surrey. For all of her community efforts, she was awarded the Queens Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012.
“Puneet is a respected leader in both her career and community, devoting her time and talents to making a real difference in people’s lives,” said Premier Clark. “We have a plan to put British Columbians first that’s working – and it’s qualified candidates like Puneet who believe in this plan, and who will work hard to make sure that we can continue to look after the people we love.”
Sandhar joins a team of 52 BC Liberal candidates already selected across B.C., with 75 per cent of the Party’s 2017 candidates expected to be nominated by its biennial convention, happening November 4-6 in Vancouver.
British Columbians will head to the polls on Tuesday, May 9, 2017.
