By: Surjit Singh Flora
Team Trudeau is attracting a talented group of like-minded professionals, even as the countdown to the federal election begins to tick down.
Hundreds of residents were present this past Sunday as Brampton South Member of Parliament, Sonia Sidhu hosted a community barbecue to celebrate the opening of her new campaign office, Sidhu, who has experienced hardships and victories over her term, is betting her luck for a second time as she seeks re-election.
Along the way, she’s built up a rich and varied experience of working around the community and being a voice for immigrant families in Ottawa, said federal innovation minister Navdeep Bains, who was one of several Liberals on-hand at the event to lend their support.
“The opening of this office is really a milestone for my campaign, said Sidhu. “This is really where we are going to start putting our volunteers and myself to work.
We’ve been doing a lot of pre-campaign work, talking to people about their concerns and the issues they would like addressed during the campaign,” she said.
The team has a platform, great ideas and will be using the office to coordinate volunteers and host meetings, Sidhu told the packed crowd. “We cannot allow the Conservatives to take power, - just look at Andrew Scheer’s carbon plan,” Sidhu continued. “We work for Canadians… it’s absolutely essential that we push the Liberal program forward to help Canadians.”
In the 2015 election, Sidhu picked up 45,464 votes against Conservative incumbent Kyle Seeback, who recently picked up the nomination as the Conservative candidate in the Dufferin-Caledon riding.
Before entering politics, Sidhu worked as a healthcare professional for 18 years, a record that she says helped her understand the roots of health care needs across the country.
This time, Sidhu will be facing off against Conservative candidate Ramandeep Brar with a scant two months left in the race. The federal NDP are still looking for the right candidate for nomination from Brampton South and had not announced their choice as of press time.
She further sits as a member of the Canada-Europe Parliamentary Association, the Canada-U.S. Sonia sits on the House of Commons? Standing Committee on Health and in addition sits on the Standing Committee on the Status of Women as well.
Sidhu also serves as the General-Secretary of the Canada-India Parliamentary Friendship Group and an executive member of both the Canada-Poland and Canada-Portugal Parliamentary Friendship Groups.
Sidhu concluded her remarks at Sunday’s event by saying she is focused on her constituents, health issues, and making life better for newcomers to Canada. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and has worked as a volunteer on political campaigns at all three levels of government.
