Parm Gill
| Parm Gill | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Canadian Parliament for Brampton—Springdale | |
|
In office May 2, 2011 – October 19, 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Ruby Dhalla |
| Succeeded by | Riding abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
May 17, 1974 Moga district, Punjab, India[1] |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Profession | Entrepreneur |
| Religion | Sikh |
Parm Gill (born May 17, 1974) is a Canadian politician, who was formerly an elected member of the Canadian House of Commons, representing the riding of Brampton—Springdale in Ontario. He is a member of the Conservative Party. In the 2011 election, he defeated Liberal incumbent Ruby Dhalla. He was defeated in the new riding of Brampton North by Liberal candidate Ruby Sahota in the 2015 federal election.
Early life
Gill was born in India and moved to Canada at young age. He first ran for public office in 2006.[2] In 2008, he ran a family-owned business in the hospitality sector.
Political career
Shortly after his narrow defeat to Ruby Dhalla in the 2008 election, Gill accompanied Immigration Minister Jason Kenney on a trip to India. While in Punjab, he told reporters that the Conservatives would reduce the immigration rejection rate for Punjabi youths. Some speculated that this announcement had less to do with promoting skilled immigration than with garnering political support from Punjabi-Canadians, who often solicit assistance from their Members of Parliament with issues related to their relatives' Canadian visa applications.[3] During the 2011 election, Gill was accused by Dhalla of exploiting his close relationship with the immigration minister to win votes by expediting visa applications for her constituents and then calling the applicants with the news before Dhalla, the local MP was notified.[4] Gill and Kenney defended their relationship, saying that Gill was merely acting in a volunteer role as a private citizen.[4]
Member of Parliament
Gill defeated Ruby Dhalla and was elected on May 2, 2011 as the Conservative Member of Parliament for Brampton — Springdale. Regarding the justice system, Gill has said "The system of justice in Canada is lenient and it is like a revolving door, where criminals enter from one side and move out from the other. The judicial system needs to be toughened."[5]
In September 2013, Gill was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs.[6] During the Rob Ford cocaine scandal, Gill was one of the few federal politicians to offer support for the embattled mayor, calling him a "great mayor" who was "doing a wonderful job" and that Torontonians were happy with his record.[7]
In January 2015, he was reassigned to be the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade.[6] In May 2015, Gill wrote letters of support for two Brampton-area radio license applicants to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, disobeying guidelines from the federal ethics commissioner that such actions from cabinet ministers or parliamentary secretaries constituted intervening in an administrative tribunal and were forbidden under conflict of interest laws.[8]
2015 election
In August 2015, Gill sent misleading constituency mailouts that conflated his 2015 opponent Ruby Sahota, with previous Liberal challenger Ruby Dhalla, and claimed that Sahota supported a controversial private member's bill proposed by Dhalla that neither she nor her party had ever supported.[9] Also in August 2015, a member of the Parm Gill campaign team was accused of helping facilitate donations from constituents who wished to donate to the Liberals and diverting the money to the Conservative riding association instead.[10] In October 2015, The Huffington Post Canada reported that Gill was being investigated by the Commissioner for Elections Canada for accepting or charging money from donors without their consent.[11]
He was defeated while running in the new riding of Brampton North by Ruby Sahota.
Personal life
Gill lives in Brampton with his wife Amarpal, with whom he has two sons, Daman and Raman, and a daughter, Parmeet.[6]
Electoral record
| Canadian federal election, 2011 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ∆% | Expenditures | |||
| Conservative | (x)Parm Gill | 24,617 | 48.3% | – | – | |||
| Liberal | Ruby Dhalla | 14,231 | 27.9% | – | – | |||
| New Democratic | Manjit Grewal | 9,963 | 19.6% | – | – | |||
| Green | Mark Hoffberg | 1,926 | 3.8% | – | – | |||
| Communist | Liz Rowley | 219 | 0.4% | – | – | |||
| Total valid votes | 50,956 | 100.0% | – | |||||
| Canadian federal election, 2008: Brampton—Springdale | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ∆% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Ruby Dhalla | 18,577 | 41.03 | −6.3 | $80,011 | |||
| Conservative | Parm Gill | 17,804 | 39.32 | +5.5 | $86,444 | |||
| New Democratic | Mani Singh | 5,238 | 11.57 | −6.1 | $21,152 | |||
| Green | Dave Finlay | 3,516 | 7.76 | +3.9 | $746 | |||
| Communist | Dimitrios Kabitsis | 135 | 0.29 | +0.1 | $407 | |||
| Total valid votes/Expense Limit | 45,270 | 100.0 | – | $87,594 | ||||
| Total rejected ballots | 419 | 0.92 | ||||||
| Turnout | 45,689 | 54.24 | −7.0 | |||||
| Electors on the lists | 84,239 | |||||||
| Canadian federal election, 2006: York West | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | Expenditures | ||||
| Liberal | Judy Sgro | 21,418 | 63.78 | $48,741.93 | ||||
| Conservative | Parm Gill | 6,244 | 18.59 | $71,005.65 | ||||
| New Democratic | Sandra Romano Anthony | 4,724 | 14.07 | $8,845.73 | ||||
| Green | Nick Capra | 1,002 | 2.98 | $1,692.18 | ||||
| Independent | Axcel Cocon | 192 | 0.57 | $1,801.61 | ||||
| Total valid votes | 33,580 | 100.00 | ||||||
| Total rejected ballots | 261 | |||||||
| Turnout | 33,841 | 57.90 | ||||||
| Electors on the lists | 58,450 | |||||||
References
- ↑ Chaudhry, Amrita (4 May 2011). "Moga man Gill trumps Ruby Dhalla". Indian Express. Retrieved 4 May 2011.
- ↑ 2006 Election: Riding-by-riding: Parm Gil l, CTV, online edition, accessed 22 May 2009.
- ↑ Don Martin, "Kenney loves spotlight". Windsor Star, 1 April 2009, A6.
- 1 2 "Tory candidate's access to Kenney questioned". CBC News. 26 April 2011. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
- ↑ Singh Nibber, Gurpreet. "Hindustan times — Indian-origin MP advocates tough stand against criminals". Hindustan times. Hindustan times. Retrieved September 15, 2012.
- 1 2 3 "PARM GILL". Prime Minister's Office. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
- ↑ Goodman, Lee-Anne (1 November 2013). "Conservative MP Parm Gill: Rob Ford a 'great mayor'". CTV News. The Canadian Press. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
- ↑ Bronskill, Jim (8 October 2015). "Tory supported radio licence bids despite conflict-of-interest guideline". Globe and Mail. The Canadian Press. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
- ↑ Raj, Althia. "Ruby Sahota, Liberal Candidate, Incensed At Tory Parm Gill's Name Game". Retrieved August 30, 2015.
- ↑ Raj, Althia (29 August 2015). "Parm Gill Supporter Denies Wrongdoing After Liberal's Donation Given To Tories". The Huffington Post Canada. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
- ↑ Raj, Althia (8 October 2015). "Parm Gill, Conservative Candidate, Investigated By Elections Commissioner". The Huffington Post Canada. Retrieved 8 October 2015.