Toronto, ON - This morning Sukh Dhaliwal, Member of Parliament for Newton-North Delta, met with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a closed door meeting involving MPs and MLAs of Indian origin from across Canada.

The face-to-face meeting allowed Dhaliwal to convey his positions on two key issues that he has been intimately involved in over the past few years.”I told the Prime Minister that I and everyone else in the room were valuable assets to him and his government in increasing economic ties between our two countries,” said Dhaliwal. “I also explained that his perceptions about rising extremism within Canada’s Sikh community were incorrect and not in any way reflective of Sikhs living across the country.”

Within the meeting, Prime Minister Singh expressed regret for the anti-Sikh violence of 1984, stating that it “should have never happened” and that he has “on behalf of the Government of India apologized on behalf of the nation for what happened.” The Prime Minister also alluded to ongoing negotiations to provide compensation for the victims of the 1984 violence.

The Prime Minister also expressed great pride about what the Indian community in Canada had been able to accomplish, with particular reference to the Sikh community in Canada.

Dhaliwal commended the Prime Minister for his efforts to reach to the elected representatives from the Indian diaspora.

“I have been very encouraged by the Prime Minister’s proactive efforts to meet with us, as I think that it is the best way to create understanding from all perspectives,” said Dhaliwal. “This morning the Prime Minister expressed an understanding about the pain caused by the 1984 anti-Sikh violence, and he has also been able to hear about how extremism within the Sikh community in Canada is a myth perpetrated by a few.”

Dhaliwal committed to assisting in fostering greater trading linkages through his post as the Official Opposition’s Critic for Asia Pacfic and to working as an intermediary to continue positive relations between the Indian government and Canadian Sikhs.

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Media Inquiries
604-506-0735
dhalis1b@parl.gc.ca

“The Auditor General has requested access to look at the way the House of Commons spends taxpayers’ money, and I am in full support of this kind of investigation,” said Dhaliwal. “If we can achieve greater parliamentary efficiencies as a result of this process, then it is a positive development for all Canadians.”

In addition to the Auditor General’s inquiry, the issue of expenses with regards to Members of Parliament has also arisen. In particular, decisions such as flying family members out on the taxpayers’ dime have caused concern amongst Canadians.

In spite of a having a young family, Dhaliwal has rarely used the family travel passes provided to his office, feeling uncomfortable with claiming that kind of an expenditure.

“Like every other MP, I was aware of the personal sacrifices that came with this job before making a decision to run” said Dhaliwal. “I miss my young son and my family, but I am also unwilling to expect taxpayers to be financially responsible as a result.”

Dhaliwal’s expenses for 2008-2009 can be found online at http://www.sukhdhaliwal.com/proactive-disclosure. 
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For more information, please contact
604-506-0735
DhaliS1B@parl.gc.ca

“Mr. Speaker, today Canadians from across the country are celebrating Vaisakhi and the Birth of Khalsa. Today is one of the most holy days for followers of the Sikh faith, as it commemorates the creation of the Khalsa and Sikh Nation by Guru Gobind Singh Ji in 1699, when Sikhs were given a clear identity and code of conduct to live by.

“On April 17, Dashmesh Darbar Gurdwara will host North America’s largest Khalsa Day Parade in Surrey, where over hundred thousand people of all faiths and backgrounds will come together and celebrate our diversity.

“I invite all members to join me in wishing Happy Vaisakhi and a Happy Khalsa Day to all.”

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Click here to download a 1 minute audio file of the announcement made today at 2:00 PM Eastern Time on the floor of the House of Commons in Ottawa.

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Gurdwaras and Mundhars across Canada will bring celebrations to local communities in the spirit of cultural integration, good will, and hope for the future.

The Khalsa teaches that equality, respect and our common humanity is the basis for peace and contentment, and Canada as a country represents the embodiment of these principles.

On behalf myself and the Liberal Party of Canada, I wish all Canadians a very happy Vaisakhi and a happy Khalsa day.”

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For further information, please contact
dhalis1b@parl.gc.ca
604-598-2202

OTTAWA - Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff made the following statement today on the celebration of Vaisakhi: “On April 13th, many Canadians will celebrate Vaisakhi — the start of a new year, and the birth of the Khalsa more than four hundred years ago.

In the parades, Gurdwaras and festivals that bring so many of us together, we also celebrate the ideals at the heart of the Sikh faith: to be honest and faithful, to help and protect those who cannot protect themselves, to believe that we all must be treated as equals.

In these ideals we see the best of ourselves as Canadians.

On behalf of the Liberal Party of Canada and our Parliamentary Caucus, I wish all Canadians a very happy Vaisakhi.”

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Contact:
Press Office
Office of the Leader of the Opposition
613-996-6740

“The government’s own figures in Budget 2010 show how they’ve fudged the facts in order to make themselves look good,” said Liberal Industry Critic Marc Garneau. “On both job creation and infrastructure delays, there are cracks in the government’s rhetoric.”

Liberal MPs questioned Transport Minister John Baird and Industry Minister Tony Clement at two different committees today - Infrastructure and Industry - to try and get some answers. They pointed out how the formula used to calculate the government’s job creation numbers is deliberately misleading, while they changed the wording around timelines in Budget 2010 from the same wording in Budget 2009.

“The government is telling Canadians that 220,000 jobs will have been created by the end of this year,” said Liberal Western Economic Diversification Critic Sukh Dhaliwal. “But this calculation is made using a formula that counts on permanent fiscal measures, when in fact the Economic Action Plan is only temporary.”

By using multipliers for permanent spending on page. 281 of the budget to calculate the job targets on page. 285, the government’s job creation numbers are faulty.

“The Conservatives have also snuck misleading words into the budget to let themselves off the hook for not spending at the height of the recession,” said Liberal Crown Corporations Critic Bonnie Crombie. “As the supplementary estimates reveal, the Conservatives were anything but timely when it came to doling out their stimulus money.”
In Budget 2009, the Conservatives promised “timely” measures to support the economy “within the next 120 days.” Yet in Budget 2010, that wording is changed to “Timely: to support the economy when private demand is weakest.”

Nearly 45 percent of the Infrastructure Stimulus Fund was not delivered this fiscal year, while almost half (48 percent) of the Communities Component of the Building Canada Fund and the Provincial/Territorial Base Funding also remains unspent. A full 93 percent of the Green Infrastructure Fund has also not been delivered.
“The Conservatives changed the commitment in their budget because they couldn’t meet their initial timeline,” concluded Mr. Garneau. “Instead of being honest about their failure to deliver on their Budget 2009 commitments, the government simply changed the script to suit their purposes.”

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Contact:
Office of Marc Garneau, MP: (613) 996-7267
Office of Sukh Dhaliwal, MP: (613) 992-0666
Office of Bonnie Crombie, MP: (613) 943-1762

The announcement is a sign of cheap politics without substance, says Newton North-Delta Member of Parliament Sukh Dhaliwal.

“The announcement is a sign of utter disrespect for the Indo Canadians and in particular, the families of the Komagata Maru passengers” said Dhaliwal. “If Stephen Harper thinks that this funding is an adequate replacement to official recognition within the House of Commons, he is truly out of touch with the Indo Canadian community.”

The timing of the announcement is also suspect, coming on the heels of the resignation of former Conservative candidate for the riding of Bramalea-Gore-Malton, Parvinder Singh. Mr. Singh tendered his resignation as a candidate this past week after stating that “the Conservative Party of Canada has no respect for the Sikhs” and that “turbans and Punjabis have no place in this party.”

A Liberal Private Members Motion that passed unanimously in the House of Commons on May 15, 2008 formally requested an official apology from the government. Yet nearly two years later, there has been absolutely no action in this regard.

Dhaliwal continues to question why descendents of the racist Chinese head tax were offered such an apology as well as compensation, and yet the Komagata Maru incident has been met with relative silence from the Conservative government.

“This is just another example of how Stephen Harper treats various communities, regions and cultural backgrounds differently in the name of politics” added Dhaliwal. “The time has come for the Prime Minister to take action and help the nation to move on from this terrible moment in Canada’s history with an official apology in the House of Commons.”

The Komagata Maru steamship sailed from Hong Kong to Vancouver carrying 376 passengers from Punjab, India. The passengers were not allowed to land in Canada and the ship was forced to return in an attempt to discriminate against immigration from India.

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For more information, please contact:
dhaliwal@sukhdhaliwal.ca
604-598-2202

For those who may still be unclear about what prorogation means, it is essentially the executive decision to shut down all the business of parliament, including the legislative agenda and the work of committees, to start with a clean slate.

Parliamentary tradition dictates that it is a decision made with a strong consensus from all parties that the parliamentary agenda has, for the most part, run its course.

At least, that is how it used to work, by and large. Until Stephen Harper. He has decided - based on the cynical calculations derived from a poll before Christmas - that you would not care about how or when he would prorogue. After all, you live in the real world, and he clearly thinks you don’t expect the work of government to be accountable to you.

In the real world you don’t show up to work two months late and say that you have been “recalibrating” your agenda for the next year.

In the real world you don’t explain to your boss that it is important that you take time off to celebrate the Olympics while everybody else has to show up to work. And for those who do get the time off to see an Olympic event, in the real world you have to pay - and dearly - for a ticket.

In the real world you don’t just cancel all the projects you have been working on and all the meetings you have scheduled and explain to your boss it was just too difficult to work with your colleagues. Especially when there is absolutely no evidence of this. And you certainly can’t go to the boss and say you’re going to hand pick say, five new senior managers on the strength of this baseless argument.

What has emerged from this cynical decision to prorogue is yet another glimpse at the real Stephen Harper, a man who, curiously enough, has never really had to work in your world, who has been an academic, head mouthpiece for a special interest group and professional politician for all of his working life.

In other words, he has never really had to be accountable to anyone but those who make up the political class in the Conservative Party of Ottawa - woops - of Canada.

Well perhaps now that may change. We all deserve better.

PS For those on Facebook, please join over 110,000 of your fellow citizens in the group “Canadians Against Proroging Parliament” to show your support for getting Parliament back to work.

The numbers on prorogation

Number of government bills killed: 37
Share of government bills killed: more than half
Number of crime bills killed: 11
Months without accountability to Parliament: 3
Order paper questions from MP to Ministers killed: hundreds
Total days prorogued: 63
Total days prorogued in the 4 years Stephen Harper has been Prime Minister: 148
Total days prorogued during the 10 years Jean Chretien was Prime Minister: 145
Parliaments that continued passing sitting right up to or during Olympic Games: Italy (Turin 2006), US (Salt Lake City 2002), Australia (Sydney, 2000), Japan (Nagano 1998), US (Atlanta 1996), Canada (Calgary 1988)

In his own words: Stephen Harper on prorogation

Then:
“When a government starts trying to cancel dissent or avoid dissent is frankly when it’s rapidly losing its moral authority to govern.” (Stephen Harper, Canadian Press, April 18, 2005)

Now:
“A decision to prorogue when the government has the confidence of the house is a routine constitutional matter.” (Stephen Harper, CBC’s The National, January 5, 2010)

“The Harper government has failed to deliver promised jobs in a timely manner, as Canada tries to recover from the economic crisis,” said Dr. Hedy Fry, Chair of the Official Opposition’s BC Caucus and Member of Parliament for Vancouver Centre.

Ujjal Dosanjh, Member of Parliament for Vancouver South agreed, saying: “BC has been treated as an afterthought. Fewer jobs have been delivered here than anywhere else in the country”.

Studies by media, academics and the Opposition have shown the Conservatives have treated two types of communities differently in BC, like the rest of the country: those represented by Conservatives and everyone else. In old-fashioned political style, those areas have been promised more funds and had their projects approved earlier, despite often having lower unemployment rates.

“It was pressure from the Opposition which forced this late funding announcement,” said Dr. Keith Martin, Member of Parliament for Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca. “Unfortunately it will be some time before the work does begin and the jobs are created.”

Previously undisclosed government data shows that, as of September, only three percent of projects promised to B.C. to fight the recession were creating jobs with infrastructure projects. The average national number at that time was 15 percent - itself only one-fifth of what the Conservatives have been claiming.

“As if 15 percent weren’t bad enough, B.C. is getting even less,” said Joyce Murray, Member of Parliament for Vancouver Quadra. “This Conservative Government is not serving British Columbians.”

In order to rise up out of the current state of economic decline, it is essential that these jobs are created. “The Harper Government has been slow to the mark and poorly focused. With the fewest number of projects under way, BC is suffering under this government,” concluded Sukh Dhaliwal, Member of Parliament for Newton-North Delta.

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Office of the Hon. Hedy Fry, P.C.M.P., 604-762-4386
Office of Hon. Ujjal Dosanjh, P.C., M.P., 613-947-3957
Office of Sukh Dhaliwal, 604-506-0735
Office of Dr. Keith Martin, P.C., M.P., 613-996-2625
Office of Joyce Murray, 613-992-2430

On December 3, 1984, the Union Carbide chemical plant released poisonous gas over the city of Bhopal, causing the worst industrial accident the world has ever seen.

The people still suffer from the after effects of this disaster. The poisonous fumes contaminated Bhopal’s soil and groundwater leading to cancer and birth defects.

Today we not only remember the victims but also urge for more aid to the residents who must live with the lingering effects of this tragedy.