Alberta’s minister of human services ManmeetSingh Bhullar, who was in Amritsar onTuesday, told the media that the park was dedicatedto Harnam Singh Hari and his family,who identified fertile farmland and set the paceof agricultural progress in the province.Manmeet accompanied Alberta premier AlisonRedford on an official visit to India to set up atrade office for his province in Delhi.
AMRITSAR – To commemorate contributionof Sikhs in Canada’s development,the country has named a new parkin the city of Calgary after the legendaryfarmer Harnam Singh Hari, the first Sikhto tame the harsh climes of frigid Albertaprovince in 1909.Alberta’s minister of human servicesManmeet Singh Bhullar, who was inAmritsar on Tuesday, told TOI that thepark was dedicated to Hari and his family,who identified fertile farmland and setthe pace of agricultural progress in theprovince. Manmeet accompanied Albertapremier Alison Redford on an officialvisit to India to set up a trade office forhis province in Delhi.With plans to enhance trade and investmentopportunities between Alberta andPunjab, the two visited the GoldenTemple on Monday to pay obeisance.Bhullar spoke about Sikhs’ selfless servicein Canada. “We have wings namedafter Guru Nanak Dev in almost allmajor hospitals in the country. Sikhs areenjoying great prosperity because ofprinciples learnt from their forefathers,teachings of Gurus and inspiration fromthe divine,” he said.In reply to a question about Canada’sprovince of Quebec where the PartiQuebecois government is likely to introducea bill to regulate religious symbolism,Bhullar said, “Even if they introducethe bill, Canadian Charter will overrule itas it has always protected minority religiousand equality rights.”Redford told TOI that she has signedtwo MoUs with Punjab government toboost cooperation and enhance trade andinvestment activities between the twostates. “These agreements are focused onagriculture and animal genetics andwould help increase trade in dairy productionand piggery. Setting up of anagricultural working group is in thepipeline to encourage communication onprojects of importance,” said the Albertapremier.Impressed with the institution of langar(community kitchen), Alison Redfordserved the devotees in the GoldenTemple on Tuesday. “In Alberta, I havevisited many temples but visiting GoldenTemple, and to see the same spirit ofservice and worship was an honour,”Alison remarked. Referring to Redford’skeenness in langar, Bhullar, in a lightervein, said, “Alberta is a major producerof lentils and she got to see where thelentils from Canada go – in feeding tensof thousands of people every day.”According to Redford, “India is not onlya big market for lentils and other products,but there’s also a close commercialrelationship between people in Punjaband Alberta.” She also said that Alberta’slarge Sikh community contributes activelyto political, social and business activitiesand thus, help making the provinceone of the best place to live, work andraise a family.
