Sukh Dhaliwal

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Sukh Dhaliwal, P.Eng., BCLS, MP (born November 1, 1960 in Punjab, India) is a businessman and politician in British Columbia, Canada. He is currently the Liberal Member of Parliament for Newton—North Delta, elected in the 2006 federal election. A Sikh, he emigrated from India in 1984 and became a Canadian citizen three years later. As a businessman, he ran a successful land surveying company and played an important role in the municipal politics of Surrey where he is said to have dominated the Surrey Electors Team membeship list by signing up over 2,600 new party members, whether they were aware of what they were doing is unknown. This represented over half the total number of members, and were mainly generated from the large local Indo-Canadian community. However, in the November 1999 municipal elections Dhaliwal lost his own bid for a seat on city council.

He was the federal Liberal candidate for the Newton-North Delta riding in 2004, but lost to Conservative Gurmant Grewal by just over 500 votes. After a turbulent term in office, Grewal decided to not seek re-election, and in 2006 Dhaliwal faced Conservative newcomer Phil Eidsvik. The NDP was also strong in the riding, and 2004 candidate Nancy Clegg, who finished less than a thousand votes behind Dhaliwal, also ran again. Dhaliwal succeeded in winning the seat by 1000 votes.

In the 2006 Liberal Leadership campaign, Dhaliwal initially supported Joe Volpe. After Volpe encountered a fundraising scandal, Dhaliwal withdrew his support and moved to support Michael Ignatieff. Dhaliwal was instrumental in building support for Ignatieff's campaign in the Sikh community. Following Volpe's withdrawal from the race during the convention speeches, Dhaliwal was instrumental in convincing many of Volpe's Sikh delegates to support Ignatieff's campaign.^{[citation needed]}