Bharat Agnihotri
Encyclopedia
Bharat Agnihotri is a Canadian politician and a former member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta
. He represented the constituency of Edmonton Ellerslie
, sitting as a Liberal
. He was elected in the 2004 election
, but was defeated in the 2008 election
, and graduated from Guru Nanak Dev University
in Amritsar
with a Bachelor of Arts
in Economics
and Political Science
. In 1976 he immigrated to England
, where he lived until 1990, when he came to Edmonton
. He began work as a realtor in 1997.
, when he ran as a Liberal in Edmonton Mill Creek
against incumbent Gene Zwozdesky
. Zwozdesky had been elected as a Liberal the previous election, and Agnihotri had volunteered for his campaign. However, Zwozdesky had left the Liberal caucus in July 1998, and joined the Progressive Conservatives a month later, and it was under their banner that he was seeking re-election. Agnihotri finished second, with 29% of the vote, nearly four thousand votes behind Zwozdesky.
The next election
, Agnihotri ran in Edmonton Ellerslie
, which had been vacated by Liberal Debby Carlson
, who had resigned to run in the 2004 federal election
. Agnihotri won a narrow victory, finishing 199 votes ahead of Progressive Conservative Gurnam Dodd. He sought re-election in the 2008 election, but was defeated by the Progressive Conservative candidate.
's nine years as speaker. This occurred as result of questions he asked Minister of Tourism, Parks, Recreation and Culture Hector Goudreau
about the Community Initiatives Program, which dispenses grants to community groups. Agnihotri began by noting that, despite a rule that unmatched grants could not exceed ten thousand dollars, forty-three groups had received unmatched grants exceeding that amount. He then asked if these groups included any who had made donations to the leadership campaigns of Ed Stelmach
, Dave Hancock, Lyle Oberg
, or Ted Morton
- all of whom were cabinet ministers and all of whom had refused to disclose full lists of donors from their leadership campaigns: "Can this minister assure this house that groups receiving this special treatment are not secret friends of top Tories?" Hancock rose on a point of order
, and Kowalski ruled that Agnihotri's question impugned the integrity of the ministers, and that the question was a party matter that had no place in the legislature. He asked Agnihotri three times to apologize and, after Agnihotri refused, he named him. Agnihotri was not to be allowed back into the Legislature until he apologized and all members of the assembly agreed to re-admit him. He apologized the next day, saying that his constituents wanted him to and that "if you stay outside, you're not going to help Albertans, so better you go inside and fight for it."
.
Legislative Assembly of Alberta
The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is one of two components of the Legislature of Alberta, the other being the Queen, represented by the Lieutenant-Governor of Alberta. The Alberta legislature meets in the Alberta Legislature Building in the provincial capital, Edmonton...
. He represented the constituency of Edmonton Ellerslie
Edmonton Ellerslie
Edmonton Ellerslie is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada.-Boundary history:-2004 general election:-2004 Senate nominee election district results:...
, sitting as a Liberal
Alberta Liberal Party
The Alberta Liberal Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Originally founded in 1905, when the province was created, it was the dominant political party until 1921 when it was defeated. It has never been in government since that time...
. He was elected in the 2004 election
Alberta general election, 2004
The Alberta general election of 2004 was the twenty-sixth general election for the province of Alberta, Canada. It was held on November 22, 2004 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta....
, but was defeated in the 2008 election
Early life
Agnihotri was born in IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, and graduated from Guru Nanak Dev University
Guru Nanak Dev University
Guru Nanak Dev University was established at Amritsar, India on November 24, 1969 to commemorate Guru Nanak Dev's birth quincentenary celebrations. Guru Nanak Dev University campus is spread over 500 acres near village of Kot Khalsa, nearly 8 km west of the Amritsar City on Amritsar - Lahore...
in Amritsar
Amritsar
Amritsar is a city in the northern part of India and is the administrative headquarters of Amritsar district in the state of Punjab, India. The 2001 Indian census reported the population of the city to be over 1,500,000, with that of the entire district numbering 3,695,077...
with a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in Economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
and Political Science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
. In 1976 he immigrated to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, where he lived until 1990, when he came to Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
. He began work as a realtor in 1997.
Electoral record
Agnihotri first sought election in the 2001 provincial electionAlberta general election, 2001
The Alberta general election of 2001 was the twenty-fifth general election for the Province of Alberta, Canada. It was held on March 12, 2001 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta....
, when he ran as a Liberal in Edmonton Mill Creek
Edmonton Mill Creek
Edmonton Mill Creek is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada.-Boundary history:- Members of the Legislative Assembly :-2004 general election:-2004 Senate nominee election district results:...
against incumbent Gene Zwozdesky
Gene Zwozdesky
Gene Zwozdesky is a politician and current cabinet minister from Alberta, Canada.Zwozdeksy, was born in Saskatchewan but came to Alberta at the age of two. He lived in Grand Centre, Hinton and Sangudo before moving to Edmonton, where he has lived in 1963 and where he obtain bachelor's degrees in...
. Zwozdesky had been elected as a Liberal the previous election, and Agnihotri had volunteered for his campaign. However, Zwozdesky had left the Liberal caucus in July 1998, and joined the Progressive Conservatives a month later, and it was under their banner that he was seeking re-election. Agnihotri finished second, with 29% of the vote, nearly four thousand votes behind Zwozdesky.
The next election
Alberta general election, 2004
The Alberta general election of 2004 was the twenty-sixth general election for the province of Alberta, Canada. It was held on November 22, 2004 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta....
, Agnihotri ran in Edmonton Ellerslie
Edmonton Ellerslie
Edmonton Ellerslie is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada.-Boundary history:-2004 general election:-2004 Senate nominee election district results:...
, which had been vacated by Liberal Debby Carlson
Debby Carlson
Debby Carlson is a former Liberal MLA in Alberta, who represented the electoral district of Edmonton Ellerslie from 1993 to 2004.Carlson won her seat in southeast Edmonton's Ellerslie area, and held it in the 1993, 1997, and 2001 elections until 2004 when she won a highly contested federal Liberal...
, who had resigned to run in the 2004 federal election
Canadian federal election, 2004
The Canadian federal election, 2004 , was held on June 28, 2004 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 38th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal government of Prime Minister Paul Martin lost its majority, but was able to form a minority government after the elections...
. Agnihotri won a narrow victory, finishing 199 votes ahead of Progressive Conservative Gurnam Dodd. He sought re-election in the 2008 election, but was defeated by the Progressive Conservative candidate.
Legislative initiatives
In 2007, Agnihotri sponsored the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (Repeal of Ministerial Briefing Exemption) Amendment Act, would have eliminated ministerial briefings from the list of documents exempt from public disclosure under the province's access to information provisions. It never reached second reading.Community Initiatives Program incident
On April 3, 2007, Agnihotri became the first MLA to be named - that is, asked by the Speaker to leave the assembly - in Ken KowalskiKen Kowalski
Kenneth "Ken" Reginald Kowalski, MLA is a provincial level politician and former teacher from Alberta, Canada. He is a current member and also dean of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta and has served continuously since November 1979 sitting with the governing Progressive Conservative caucus...
's nine years as speaker. This occurred as result of questions he asked Minister of Tourism, Parks, Recreation and Culture Hector Goudreau
Hector Goudreau
Hector G. Goudreau is a politician from Alberta, Canada. He is originally from the francophone area of Beaumont, Alberta, located just south of Edmonton's metro population....
about the Community Initiatives Program, which dispenses grants to community groups. Agnihotri began by noting that, despite a rule that unmatched grants could not exceed ten thousand dollars, forty-three groups had received unmatched grants exceeding that amount. He then asked if these groups included any who had made donations to the leadership campaigns of Ed Stelmach
Ed Stelmach
Edward Michael "Ed" Stelmach, MLA is a Canadian politician and served as the 13th Premier of Alberta, Canada, from 2006 to 2011. The grandson of Ukrainian immigrants, Stelmach was born and raised on a farm near Lamont and speaks fluent Ukrainian. He spent his entire pre-political adult life as a...
, Dave Hancock, Lyle Oberg
Lyle Oberg
Lyle Oberg is an Albertan politician and former member of the Legislative Assembly.Oberg was born near Forestburg, Alberta in 1960. A physician by profession, Oberg was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta as an Progressive Conservative in 1993. He was first appointed to the...
, or Ted Morton
Ted Morton
Frederick Lee Morton , known commonly as Ted Morton, is a Canadian politician and Minister of Energy for the Province of Alberta. As a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta he represents the constituency of Foothills-Rocky View as a Progressive Conservative...
- all of whom were cabinet ministers and all of whom had refused to disclose full lists of donors from their leadership campaigns: "Can this minister assure this house that groups receiving this special treatment are not secret friends of top Tories?" Hancock rose on a point of order
Point of order
A point of order is a matter raised during consideration of a motion concerning the rules of parliamentary procedure.-Explanation and uses:A point of order may be raised if the rules appear to have been broken. This may interrupt a speaker during debate, or anything else if the breach of the rules...
, and Kowalski ruled that Agnihotri's question impugned the integrity of the ministers, and that the question was a party matter that had no place in the legislature. He asked Agnihotri three times to apologize and, after Agnihotri refused, he named him. Agnihotri was not to be allowed back into the Legislature until he apologized and all members of the assembly agreed to re-admit him. He apologized the next day, saying that his constituents wanted him to and that "if you stay outside, you're not going to help Albertans, so better you go inside and fight for it."
Post-political career
After his defeat in 2008, Agnihotri announced plans to return to work as a realtor.Personal life
Agnihotri is married to Rita and has two children. He enjoys cricket and table tennisTable tennis
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...
.
Election results
| 2008 Alberta general election results (Edmonton Ellerslie Edmonton Ellerslie Edmonton Ellerslie is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada.-Boundary history:-2004 general election:-2004 Senate nominee election district results:... ) |
font style="font-size: 90%;">Turnout 38.4% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | % |
Progressive Conservative | Naresh Bhardwaj Naresh Bhardwaj Naresh Bhardwaj is a Canadian politician, who was elected in the 2008 provincial election to represent the electoral district of Edmonton Ellerslie in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. He is a member of the Progressive Conservatives.... |
4,573 | 41.9% |
Liberal Alberta Liberal Party The Alberta Liberal Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Originally founded in 1905, when the province was created, it was the dominant political party until 1921 when it was defeated. It has never been in government since that time... |
Bharat Agnihotri | 3,601 | 33.0% |
NDP Alberta New Democratic Party The Alberta New Democratic Party or Alberta NDP is a social-democratic political party in Alberta, Canada, which was originally founded as the Alberta section of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation... |
Marilyn Assheton-Smith | 1,881 | 17.2% |
Wildrose Alliance Wildrose Alliance Party of Alberta The Wildrose Party, formerly Wildrose Alliance Party, is a conservative provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. It includes free market conservative, libertarian and socially conservative factions and was formed in 2008 following a merger of the Wildrose Party of Alberta and the Alberta... |
Krista Leddy | 470 | 4.3% |
Green Green Party of Alberta The Green Party of Alberta, also known as the Alberta Greens, was a provincial political party in the province of Alberta, Canada.The Alberta Greens were formed in 1986 and received official party status on April 6, 1990... |
Paul Boos | 335 | 3.1% |
Social Credit Social Credit Party of Alberta The Alberta Social Credit Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada, that was founded on the social credit monetary policy and conservative Christian social values.... |
Cheryl Ullah | 63 | 0.6% | |
| 2004 Alberta general election Alberta general election, 2004 The Alberta general election of 2004 was the twenty-sixth general election for the province of Alberta, Canada. It was held on November 22, 2004 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.... results (Edmonton Ellerslie Edmonton Ellerslie Edmonton Ellerslie is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada.-Boundary history:-2004 general election:-2004 Senate nominee election district results:... ) |
font style="font-size: 90%;">Turnout 43.4% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | % |
Liberal Alberta Liberal Party The Alberta Liberal Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Originally founded in 1905, when the province was created, it was the dominant political party until 1921 when it was defeated. It has never been in government since that time... |
Bharat Agnihotri | 3,444 | 33.8% |
Progressive Conservative | Gurnam Dodd | 3,245 | 31.9% |
NDP Alberta New Democratic Party The Alberta New Democratic Party or Alberta NDP is a social-democratic political party in Alberta, Canada, which was originally founded as the Alberta section of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation... |
Marilyn Assheton-Smith | 2,257 | 22.2% |
Alberta Alliance | Eleanor Maroes | 1,005 | 9.9% |
Social Credit Social Credit Party of Alberta The Alberta Social Credit Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada, that was founded on the social credit monetary policy and conservative Christian social values.... |
Amelia Maciejewski | 238 | 2.3% | |||||
| 2001 Alberta general election Alberta general election, 2001 The Alberta general election of 2001 was the twenty-fifth general election for the Province of Alberta, Canada. It was held on March 12, 2001 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.... results (Edmonton Mill Creek Edmonton Mill Creek Edmonton Mill Creek is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada.-Boundary history:- Members of the Legislative Assembly :-2004 general election:-2004 Senate nominee election district results:... ) |
font style="font-size: 90%;">Turnout 55.4% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | % |
Progressive Conservative | Gene Zwozdesky Gene Zwozdesky Gene Zwozdesky is a politician and current cabinet minister from Alberta, Canada.Zwozdeksy, was born in Saskatchewan but came to Alberta at the age of two. He lived in Grand Centre, Hinton and Sangudo before moving to Edmonton, where he has lived in 1963 and where he obtain bachelor's degrees in... |
8,085 | 55.7% |
Liberal Alberta Liberal Party The Alberta Liberal Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Originally founded in 1905, when the province was created, it was the dominant political party until 1921 when it was defeated. It has never been in government since that time... |
Bharat Agnihotri | 4,229 | 24.9% |
NDP Alberta New Democratic Party The Alberta New Democratic Party or Alberta NDP is a social-democratic political party in Alberta, Canada, which was originally founded as the Alberta section of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation... |
Edwin Villania | 1,893 | 11.2% |
Alberta First Alberta First Party The Alberta First Party was a right-wing political party that operated in Alberta, Canada from 1999 until 2003. It was founded by former members of the Social Credit Party of Alberta. The party was registered with Elections Alberta on November 2, 1999... |
Kyle Harvey | 220 | 1.3% |
Green Green Party of Alberta The Green Party of Alberta, also known as the Alberta Greens, was a provincial political party in the province of Alberta, Canada.The Alberta Greens were formed in 1986 and received official party status on April 6, 1990... |
Harlan Light | 97 | 0.6% | |||||