According to recent polling by Abacus data, Mark Carney looks like the Liberal’s strongest candidate both internally and externally.
A significant base of support that rallied behind Carney is the Liberal Party’s Sikh lobby, who are caught up in diaspora politics that has recently divided the party.
Virtually all Sikh Liberal MPs have publicly endorsed Carney, including Sukh Dhaliwal, Harjit Singh Sajjan, the porch pirate George Chahal, Sonia Sidhu, Anju Dhillon, Randeep Sarai, Iqwinder Gaheer, Parm Bains, and Kamal Khera.
The only two exceptions thus far are Navdeep Bains and Bardish Chagger who have either resigned or been removed from cabinet in recent years, and have kept a low profile ever since.
Within the Liberal Party’s large Indian-Canadian community, two important factions emerge: the pro-Khalistan (Sikh independence movement) side, and the Pro-India/Modi camp.
A great example of this division was on December 7th of last year when Sukh Dhaliwal, a Sikh Liberal MP, introduced a motion to recognize the 1984 riots in India as a genocide. Dhaliwal’s Liberal colleague Chandra Arya stood up in the house to block the motion, defending India’s Hindu government of the past, which made headlines in Indian media.
Hindus in India led violent riots in 1984 after then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, a Hindu herself, was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards.
The Pro-Khalistan movement, which exists in larger portions in Canada than in India, supports an independent Sikh state in Hindu majority India. India’s government, however, maintains that all religious groups are meant to coexist under a secular constitution.
Arya booted from race
Arya made headlines last week after getting inexplicably booted by the Liberals from their leadership race. Arya said he was given no reason for his removal, and that he had raised the required $350,000.
A likely factor leading to his removal is his ties to the Modi government. Arya simply represents the wrong side given that Canadian Sikh MPs outnumber Hindu MPs in the Liberal Party 12 to 2.
As for Carney, it’s clear that he has the Sikh’s support. Carney even managed to pull a far larger crowd in Brampton than his supposed home in Edmonton, where not a single Liberal is polling to win a seat in the next federal election.
