Navdeep Bains

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**Hon. Navdeep Singh Bains**


Incumbent
Riding	Mississauga—Brampton South
In office since	2004 election
Preceded by	New district
Born	June 16 1977 (age 29) Toronto, Ontario
Residence	Mississauga
Political party	Liberal
Profession(s)	Certified management accountant, financial analyst
Religion	Sikhism
Spouse	Brahamjot K. Bains

Navdeep Singh Bains, PC, MP, BAS, MBA, CMA (born June 16, 1977) is a Canadian politician. From 7 October 2005 to February 2006, Bains served as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister.

Born in Toronto, Ontario, Bains is currently a member of the Liberal Party of Canada in the Canadian House of Commons, representing the riding of Mississauga—Brampton South since 2004. He was first elected federally in June 2004 and re-elected on January 23, 2006. During the 38th Parliament, Bains was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister. From February to May 2006, Navdeep served as the Critic for Public Works and Government Services. From May 30, 2006 until January 19, 2007 he was the Critic for Treasury Board and is now the Critic for International Trade.

From October 2004 to November 2005, Bains served on the House of Commons Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics and also on the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Human Rights and International Development. In April of 2005, he was elected Chair which he held until October 31, 2005. As of April 2005, Navdeep became a member of the Post-Secondary Education & Research Caucus and a Member of the Caucus Committee on Expenditure Review/Governance. In October of 2005, he also became a member of the Red Ribbon Task Force. In April of 2006 he became a member of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts and then in June 2006 he changed to become a member on the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates. As of January 2007, Bains is now a member of the Standing Committee on International Trade. On January 22, 2007 Navdeep was also appointed to the National Election Readiness Committee as a Caucus Representative.

Prior to being elected, he was a Revenue Analyst with Ford Canada.

Bains attended Turner Fenton Secondary School in Brampton. In 1999 he received a Bachelor of Administrative Studies from York University and in 2001 an Master of Business Administration (Finance and Marketing) from the University of Windsor. He became a Certified Management Accountant in 2003.

Bains is married to Brahamjot K. Bains.

[edit] Controversy over Air India connection

On February 21, 2007, a Vancouver Sun story alleged that Bains' father-in-law, Darshan Singh Saini, was a former Ontario spokesman for the Sikh fundamentalist group Babbar Khalsa (Panthak) (also known as Babbar Khalsa Panthak) and was on the RCMP's potential list of witnesses at investigative hearings designed to advance the Air India criminal probe. ^[1]

The same day, Prime Minister Stephen Harper attempted to read aloud the Sun story in Parliament, in the context of discussions about the Liberals' stance against the renewal of the time-limited Canadian Anti-Terrorism Act, implying the Liberals' opposition to the bill was motivated by the connection between Saini and Bains. This drew widespread criticism from Liberals (including Bains himself), the New Democratic Party, and the Bloc Quebecois, who repeatedly demanded an apology from Harper, who refused to apologize.^[2]

[edit] References

^ Bolan, Kim. "Liberal MP's in-law interviewed in Air India case", Vancouver Sun, 21 February 2007. Retrieved on 2007-02-22.
^ "Liberals shout down PM over 'base' attack", CBC News, 21 February 2007. Retrieved on 2007-02-22.