Andrew Scheer’s BC Man Raj Bhela Helped Gather Support For His Win Last Saturday!
“I’m excited that Raj has taken a leadership role in my campaign,” Andrew Scheer, former Speaker of the House under the Conservative government, said about the well known Indo-Canadian political mover-shaker Raj Bhela when he appointed him as his coordinator for the South Asian community in BC last fall. “I look forward to working with him to deepen my connection to BC’s vibrant and important South Asian community.”
By R. Paul Dhillon
VANCOUVER – Last fall, Andrew Scheer, the former Speaker of the House under the Conservative government, appointed a well known Indo-Canadian political mover-shaker Raj Bhela as his coordinator for the South Asian community in BC for his leadership campaign and on Saturday Scheer stood on the stage as a winner with Bhela by his side after a gruelling 13 ballot victory by the narrowest of margins over front runner Maxime Bernier.
“It was a big effort from our team from across Canada but I was involved with gearing up effort in our community from BC to Alberta to Ontario and I can say that Indo-Canadians played a big role in Andrew’s win because no one had expected him to win,” Bhela told the LINK in an interview this week upon his return from Toronto.
Scheer, who was seen as a front-runner for the party leadership with good Conservative Caucus support, was not well known and Bhela admits that there were challenges in getting people to support him but through his contacts across Canada he was able to mobilize enough community support for Scheer.
“I’m excited that Raj has taken a leadership role in my campaign,” Scheer, former Speaker of the House under the Conservative government, said about the well known Indo-Canadian political mover-shaker Bhela when he appointed him as his coordinator for the South Asian community in BC last fall. “I look forward to working with him to deepen my connection to BC’s vibrant and important South Asian community.”
Bhela, who has been integrally involved with the moderate Sikh camp at the Ross Street Gurdwaras as well as being an integral figure in organizing in the South Asian community for political heavyweights like BC Liberal Premier Christy Clark, is a well-respected leader in the Sikh/South Asian community.
Bhela served as a General Secretary for the largest Pioneer Society in North America, Khalsa Diwan Society, for 8 years. During his terms as General Secretary, he established contacts throughout Canada, in particular, BC.
It was former Conservative MP Jason Kenney who brought Bhela to Scheer’s campaign after Bhela worked with Kenney in BC and kept him busy (up to 15 meetings a day most of the time).
Bhela told the LINK that he decided to support Scheer after his friend Jason Kenney decided not to run and he believes the former House Speaker has a good chance of winning the leadership.
“Andrew is a great guy, very competent and he was a very good House Speaker and he is very clean so that is the reason I decided to support him, ” Bhela said.
