Gurbax Singh Malhi

The Honourable
Gurbax Singh Malhi
PC
Member of Parliament
for Bramalea—Gore—Malton
In office
1993–2011
Preceded byHarry Chadwick
Succeeded byBal Gosal
Personal details
Born (1949-10-12) 12 October 1949 (age 75)
Chugha Kalan, Moga district, Punjab, India
Political partyLiberal Party of Canada
SpouseDevinder Malhi
Children2 including Harinder
Residence(s)Brampton, Ontario, Canada
ProfessionRealtor
Websitegurbaxsinghmalhi.liberal.ca

Gurbax Singh Malhi (born 12 October 1949) is an Indian-born Canadian politician. A Liberal, he was first elected as the Member of Parliament for Bramalea—Gore—Malton in 1993, and served as its representative in the House of Commons for 18 consecutive years until his defeat in the 2011 election.

Malhi is notable for being the first turban-wearing Sikh to be elected to the House of Commons of Canada, or any national legislature in the western world.[1]

Member of Parliament

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Malhi was first elected to the House of Commons in the federal election of 1993, defeating Progressive Conservative (PC) incumbent Harry Chadwick and in the Peel Region riding of Bramalea—Gore—Malton. Prior to 1993, Canadian law prohibited members of Parliament from wearing headgear of any sort in the House of Commons. Malhi's insistence on wearing a turban caused the law to be changed shortly after the election.

Malhi was re-elected in the 1997 election over Reform candidate Darlene Florence and PC candidate Beryl Ford. He was re-elected with the greatest majority of his career in the 2000 federal election over Canadian Alliance candidate Gurdish Mangat and PC candidate Danny Varaich. He was re-elected again with a significant plurality over Conservative Raminder Singh Gill in the 2004 election, despite the fact that his riding was a key Conservative target. In the 2006 federal election, Malhi was elected over Conservative candidate John Sprovieri and NDP candidate Cesar Martello. Malhi was elected for the sixth time in the 2008 election over Conservative candidate Stella Ambler and NDP candidate Jash Puniya.

In 2002, he became the recipient of the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal for his commitment and contributions to Canadian society. In 2003, he was appointed for life to the Queen's Privy Council for Canada by Prime Minister Paul Martin.

Gurbax Singh Malhi served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Labour from 2001 to 2003. From 2003 to 2004, Malhi served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Industry with special emphasis on Entrepreneurs and New Canadians. In 2004 he was named Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and he served in this capacity until 2005. In 2005, Gurbax Singh Malhi also acted as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and Minister responsible for Democratic Renewal. From 2005 to 2006, he also served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Revenue.

In 2005, Malhi was among 32 Liberal Party backbenchers who voted against the Civil Marriage Act, despite the Liberal government being officially in favour of its adoption.[2] In a House of Commons debate, he encouraged MPs to vote to maintain the definition of marriage as between one man and one woman "in keeping with the natural law and in conformity with God's design for the world" and downplayed discrimination against same-sex couples, stating that "just because differences exist in society, it does not mean that inequality and discrimination exist.”[3]

In the 2011 federal election, the Liberal Party won the fewest seats in its history. Falling to third place, Malhi was defeated by Conservative Bal Gosal. Jagmeet Singh, the future leader of the NDP, finished in second. Like Malhi, Singh would be a trend-setter for Canadian Sikhs when he became the first turban-wearing, visible minority party leader in 2017.

During the 2014 Ontario general election, he campaigned for his daughter Harinder Malhi, who contested and won the seat for Brampton—Springdale for the Ontario Liberal Party, becoming a Member of Provincial Parliament in the 41st Legislative Assembly of Ontario.[4]

Electoral record

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Bramalea—Gore—Malton

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2011 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Conservative Baljit (Bal) Gosal 19,907 34.44% -2.68% –
New Democratic Jagmeet Singh Dhaliwal 19,368 33.51% +24.49% –
Liberal Gurbax Singh Malhi 16,402 29.40% -15.65% –
Green John Moulton 1,748 3.02% -2.14% –
Marxist–Leninist Frank Chilelli 371 0.64% +0.02%
Total valid votes 57,796 100.00% –
Total rejected ballots – – –
Turnout – – – –

Source: Elections Canada

2008 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Liberal Gurbax Malhi 22,214 45.0% -5.7% $85,496
Conservative Stella Ambler 18,350 37.2% +4.6% $91,704
New Democratic Jash Puniya 5,935 12.0% -0.8% $21,613
Green Mark Pajot 2,545 5.2% +1.8% $869
Marxist–Leninist Frank Chilelli 309 0.6% +0.1%
Total valid votes/Expense limit 29,353 100.0% $97,671
2006 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Gurbax Malhi 25,349 50.7% +1.2%
Conservative John Sprovieri 16,310 32.6% +2.0%
New Democratic Cesar Martello 6,400 12.8% -2.1%
Green Ernst Braendli 1,721 3.4% -1.1%
Marxist–Leninist Frank Chilelli 233 0.5% -0.1%
Total valid votes 50,013 100.0%
2004 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Gurbax Malhi 20,394 49.5% -7.5%
Conservative Raminder Gill 12,594 30.6% -3.9%
New Democratic Fernando Miranda 6,113 14.95% 10.0%
Green Sharleen McDowall 1,832 4.5%
Marxist–Leninist Frank Chilelli 237 0.6% -0.1%
Total valid votes 41,170 100.0%

Note: Conservative vote is compared to the total of the Canadian Alliance vote and Progressive Conservative vote in 2000 election.

Bramalea—Gore—Malton—Springdale

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2000 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Gurbax Malhi 21,917 57.1% +10.7%
Alliance Gurdish Mangat 7,214 18.8% -2.5%
Progressive Conservative Danny Varaich 6,019 15.7% -10.4%
New Democratic Vishnu Roche 1,864 4.9% -0.7%
Independent Gurinder Malhi 783 2.0%
Communist Jim R. Bridgewood 350 0.9%
Marxist–Leninist David Greig 269 0.7% 0.0%
Total valid votes 38,416 100.0%

Note: Canadian Alliance vote is compared to the Reform vote in 1997 election.

Bramalea—Gore—Malton

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1997 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Gurbax Malhi 18,933 46.4% +3.5%
Progressive Conservative Beryl Ford 10,655 26.1% +7.1%
Reform Darlene Florence 8,685 21.3% -8.2%
New Democratic Abdul Majeed 2,281 5.6% +0.5%
Marxist–Leninist Philip Fernandez 279 0.7% +0.5%
Total valid votes 40,833 100.0%
1993 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Gurbax Malhi 16,530 42.9% +8.5%
Reform Darlene Florence 11,376 29.5%
Progressive Conservative Harry Chadwick 7,338 19.0% -22.5%
New Democratic Paul Ledgister 1,977 5.1% -17.3%
National Jack Ardis 480 1.2%
Natural Law Bill Davies 279 0.7%
Independent John E. Maxwell 261 0.7%
Green Bill Emms 215 0.6%
Marxist–Leninist Iqbai Sumbal 89 0.2% -0.1%
Total valid votes 38,545 100.0%

Note that all electoral information is taken from Elections Canada.

References

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  1. ^ "Liberal.ca :: Members of Parliament :: Gurbax Singh Malhi".
  2. ^ "VOTE NO. 156 38TH PARLIAMENT, 1ST SESSION". Parliament of Canada.
  3. ^ "Debates of March 24th, 2005". openparliament.ca.
  4. ^ Grewal, Sam (12 June 2014). "Liberal candidate Harinder Malhi wins Brampton-Springdale". Toronto Star. Retrieved 13 June 2014.
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