Ruby Dhalla
Encyclopedia
Ruby Dhalla is a Canadian
politician. She represented the riding of Brampton—Springdale
in the Canadian House of Commons
from 2004 to 2011 as a member of the Liberal Party
. Dhalla and British Columbia
Conservative
MP Nina Grewal
were the first Sikh
women to serve in the Canadian House of Commons
.
She was defeated by Conservative
Parm Gill
in the 2011 federal election
, Manitoba
to an immigrant family from Punjab
, India
. She first attracted international attention in 1984, when she was ten years old and living in Winnipeg's north end. When India
n soldiers took part in military actions at Punjab's Golden Temple
, Dhalla wrote a letter to Indian Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi
, urging her to resolve the situation without further violence. Gandhi personally replied to Dhalla's letter and referred to it at a press conference held in the months before her assassination.
Dhalla received a Bachelor of Science
degree in Biochemistry
with a minor in Political Science
from the University of Winnipeg
in 1995. She moved to Toronto
in the same year, and graduated with a Doctor of Chiropractic Medicine from the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College
in 1999. She later co-owned a chain of chiropractic clinics in Toronto, Brampton
, Mississauga and Aurora
with her brother, Neil Dhalla. Dhalla has also pursued a career in acting, working in India for six months and playing a leading role in Kyon? Kis Liye?
(translated as Why? and for Whom?), a Bollywood
-inspired Hindi
-language film shot in Hamilton, Ontario
. She finished second in the Miss India Canada pageant in 1993.
Dhalla volunteered for Winnipeg Liberal candidate David Walker
in the 1988 federal election
, and later became a prominent member of the Winnipeg Young Liberals. In 1998, she was elected as youth representative of the party's standing committee on multiculturalism. Dhalla supported Paul Martin
's bid to become Liberal Party leader in 2003.
in the 2004 federal election
. This decision was opposed by the local Liberal Party riding executive, who had favoured Andrew Kania
for the nomination. Kania informed the media that Martin had previously allowed him to run for the nomination, and said that he would not rule out standing for election as an independent. The deputy campaign director for the Liberal Party defended Dhalla's selection, describing her as a star candidate
who would be beneficial to the party. This controversy took place against a backdrop of infighting
among other Liberal candidates for riding nominations, in which some rejected candidates accused Martin of undermining party democracy. When the election was called, the Liberal riding association endorsed New Democratic Party
candidate Kathy Pounder in protest.
One of Dhalla's supporters in the 2004 election was comedian
Mike Bullard, for whom Dhalla has worked as a chiropractor. Bullard joked during the campaign that he was helping Dhalla because "all my back trouble is on the right
". She was elected by a comfortable margin as the Liberals were reduced to a minority government
nationally. After the election, she was appointed to the Standing Committee on Health.
Dhalla was a prominent organizer of the "Canada for Asia" benefit concert
in January 2005, along with Senator
Jerry Grafstein
and singer Tom Cochrane
. The event raised money for victims of the previous month's tsunami
disaster in southeast Asia. In October 2005, Dhalla organized a relief effort for victims of an earthquake in Pakistan
. She also promoted an accelerated foreign credential recognition process to assist recent Canadian immigrants in gaining professional employment.
Dhalla voted in favour of Canada's same-sex marriage
legislation in 2005, on the grounds that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
must confer equality on different groups in society.
The Liberal government was defeated by a motion of no confidence
in late 2005, and a new election
was called for early 2006. Dhalla officially launched her re-election campaign in early December, with Bollywood actor Arjun Rampal
as a star attendee. Conservative candidate Sam Hundal attempted to use same-sex marriage as a wedge issue
among recent immigrant voters, but was unsuccessful. Dhalla was easily re-elected, while the Conservatives won a minority government at the national level.
Tony Clement
over a possible conflict-of-interest relating to his ownership of shares in Prudential Chem Inc. The following month, she described Prime Minister
Stephen Harper
's refusal to attend an international AIDS
conference in Toronto
as "extremely upsetting".
In June 2006, Dhalla alleged that the Conservatives had tried to convince her to cross the floor and join the party, as part of a campaign to win the support of youth, women and ethnic voters. She turned down the offer, saying that the Conservatives do not represent her values. She later criticized Wajid Khan
for crossing from the Liberals to the Conservatives. (Khan was defeated in the 2008 federal election
.)
Paul Martin resigned as Liberal leader after his party's defeat in the 2006 election. Dhalla initially considered entering the contest to succeed him, but instead gave her support to Michael Ignatieff
. She was the Ignatieff Leadership Campaign's national co-chair, alongside Senator
David Smith and Member of Parliament Denis Coderre
. Ignatieff was defeated by Stéphane Dion
on the final ballot of the 2006 Liberal leadership convention.
Dion announced his new shadow cabinet
in January 2007, and reassigned Dhalla from Health to Social Development. She criticized the Conservatives for canceling the Martin government's national day-care plan, and spoke against the prospect of large, for-profit foreign firms taking over the industry. She also wrote an opinion piece for the Toronto Star
newspaper in early 2008, calling for developed countries to invest the necessary resources to target tuberculosis
in the global south.
Dhalla opposed the Conservative government's changes to Canada's immigration laws in early 2008, wherein the government set an annual limit on the number of cases to be heard and gave the Immigration Minister
the discretion to fast-track some applicants. Dhalla suggested that the Conservatives would show favouritism to immigrants from certain communities. She was quoted as saying, "I think they're really picking and choosing for political purposes which communities they want to work with, and that is why there is a fear among these communities that the immigration laws being proposed right now are going to have an impact on them."
Dhalla issued a Private Member's Bill
in April 2008, calling on the federal government to apologize for the 1914 Komagata Maru incident, in which a ship with 376 mostly Sikh immigrants was denied access to Canada. The bill was unanimously passed the following month.
She faced a difficult re-election in 2008
, and ultimately defeated Conservative candidate Parm Gill
by a small margin amid a provincial swing from the Liberals to Conservatives. This contest was marked by open animosity between the candidates. The Conservatives were re-elected to a second minority government on the national level. Shortly after the election, a Toronto
man was charged with making a death threat
against Dhalla.
in January 2008. While attending a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) seminar, she called on the state government to introduce more stringent laws to prevent the abuse of married women. She later visited her parent's village of Mullanpur
.
During this trip, a member of Dhalla's staff had a purse
stolen by two children. Allegations later surfaced that the children were beaten by the police after being apprehended, and a local television station ran an out-of-context quote from Dhalla that seemed to imply she condoned the violence. The station later issued a full retraction and acknowledged that Dhalla's comments had been presented out of context. Dhalla clarified that she condemned any type of violence against children and called for an investigation into the incident.
listed her as an outside contender, noting that her national profile was not very strong. Before she was able to make her decision, other prominent candidates withdrew from the contest and gave their support to Michael Ignatieff
. In December, Dhalla announced she would not be a candidate. Ignatieff was duly acclaimed as interim leader in January 2009, and was officially confirmed as party leader later in the year.
In January 2009, Ignatieff appointed Dhalla as the Liberal critic for Youth and Multiculturalism.
newspaper ran a front-page story with allegations that two caregivers hired to look after Dhalla's mother had been illegally employed and mistreated. The caregivers alleged that their passports had been seized and that they had been forced to do several chores outside their job description. A third caregiver later came forward with similar charges. Dhalla responded that she was "shocked and appalled" by the allegations and that the caregivers had never been abused. She later released a statement indicating that she had no involvement with the hiring or supervision of the women.
Dhalla stepped down as the Liberal Youth and Multiculturalism Critic on May 6 and called for a federal ethics investigation to clear her name. She held a press conference two days later in which she described the allegations against her as a coordinated attack on her reputation. Dhalla's lawyer suggested that the controversy was part of a partisan smear campaign
orchestrated by her political opponents. Her lawyer later informed the media that one of the caregivers had made unfounded charges against another employer in the past.
Immigration Minister
Jason Kenney
denied the suggestion of political interference, saying he had no personal knowledge of the matter until it was reported by the media. His ministerial assistant Alykhan Velshi
was later seen handing out documents at a meeting of the Immigration Committee in a bid to discredit Dhalla. Some believe Velshi's actions caused a chilling effect among civil servants in Kenney's department, preventing them from reviewing the case in a fair and open manner.
Ultimately, no charges were filed. Dhalla asked the public and media to "hold judgment and give [her] family privacy".
. Italicized expenditures refer to submitted totals, and are presented when the final reviewed totals are not available.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
politician. She represented the riding of Brampton—Springdale
Brampton—Springdale
Brampton—Springdale is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 2004.-History:...
in the Canadian House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
from 2004 to 2011 as a member of the Liberal Party
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
. Dhalla and British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
Conservative
Conservative Party of Canada
The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...
MP Nina Grewal
Nina Grewal
Narinder Kaur Grewal, MP , is a Canadian politician of the Conservative Party. She was elected in the general election of June 2004 to represent the constituency of Fleetwood—Port Kells, British Columbia....
were the first Sikh
Sikh
A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...
women to serve in the Canadian House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
.
She was defeated by Conservative
Conservative Party of Canada
The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...
Parm Gill
Parm Gill
Paramjit Gill is an elected member of the Canadian Parliament, 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.-Early life:...
in the 2011 federal election
Early life
Dhalla was born in WinnipegWinnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
, Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
to an immigrant family from Punjab
Punjab (India)
Punjab ) is a state in the northwest of the Republic of India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest as well as the Pakistani province of Punjab to the...
, India
India
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...
. She first attracted international attention in 1984, when she was ten years old and living in Winnipeg's north end. When India
India
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...
n soldiers took part in military actions at Punjab's Golden Temple
Harmandir Sahib
The Harmandir Sahib also Darbar Sahib , also referred to as the Golden Temple, is a prominent Sikh gurdwara located in the city of Amritsar, Punjab . Construction of the gurdwara was begun by Guru Ram Das, the fourth Sikh Guru, and completed by his successor, Guru Arjan Dev...
, Dhalla wrote a letter to Indian Prime Minister
Prime Minister of India
The Prime Minister of India , as addressed to in the Constitution of India — Prime Minister for the Union, is the chief of government, head of the Council of Ministers and the leader of the majority party in parliament...
Indira Gandhi
Indira Gandhi
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhara was an Indian politician who served as the third Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms and a fourth term . She was assassinated by Sikh extremists...
, urging her to resolve the situation without further violence. Gandhi personally replied to Dhalla's letter and referred to it at a press conference held in the months before her assassination.
Dhalla received a Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
degree in Biochemistry
Biochemistry
Biochemistry, sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes in living organisms, including, but not limited to, living matter. Biochemistry governs all living organisms and living processes...
with a minor in 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...
from the University of Winnipeg
University of Winnipeg
The University of Winnipeg is a public university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada that offers undergraduate faculties of art, business and economics, education, science and theology as well as graduate programs. The U of W's founding colleges were Manitoba College and Wesley College, which merged...
in 1995. She moved to Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
in the same year, and graduated with a Doctor of Chiropractic Medicine from the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College
Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College
The Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College is a fully accredited academic institution recognized as one of the most rigourous and innovative chiropractic programs in North America. With graduates now practising in 43 countries around the world, CMCC’s focus is the delivery of world class...
in 1999. She later co-owned a chain of chiropractic clinics in Toronto, Brampton
Brampton, Ontario
Brampton is the third-largest city in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario, Canada and the seat of Peel Region. As of the 2006 census, Brampton's population stood at 433,806, making it the 11th largest city in Canada. It is also one of Canada's fastest growing municipalities, with an average...
, Mississauga and Aurora
Aurora, Ontario
Aurora is an affluent town in York Region, approximately 20 km north of Toronto. It is partially situated on the Oak Ridges Moraine, and is a part of the Greater Toronto Area and Golden Horseshoe of Southern Ontario.Many Aurora residents commute to Toronto and surrounding communities.In the...
with her brother, Neil Dhalla. Dhalla has also pursued a career in acting, working in India for six months and playing a leading role in Kyon? Kis Liye?
Kyon? Kis Liye?
Kyon? Kis Liye? is a Bollywood-inspired Hindi-language film that was shot on a low budget in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada in 2003. The film stars Ruby Dhalla, who was elected to the Canadian House of Commons the year after its completion...
(translated as Why? and for Whom?), a Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
-inspired Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
-language film shot in Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
. She finished second in the Miss India Canada pageant in 1993.
Dhalla volunteered for Winnipeg Liberal candidate David Walker
David Walker (Canadian politician)
David Walker is a Canadian politician. He served in the Canadian House of Commons from 1988 to 1997, as a member of the Liberal Party....
in the 1988 federal election
Canadian federal election, 1988
The Canadian federal election of 1988 was held November 21, 1988, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 34th Parliament of Canada. It was an election largely fought on a single issue: the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement ....
, and later became a prominent member of the Winnipeg Young Liberals. In 1998, she was elected as youth representative of the party's standing committee on multiculturalism. Dhalla supported Paul Martin
Paul Martin
Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC , also known as Paul Martin, Jr. is a Canadian politician who was the 21st Prime Minister of Canada, as well as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....
's bid to become Liberal Party leader in 2003.
Government member (2004–2006)
In May 2004, Paul Martin designated Dhalla as the Liberal candidate for Brampton—SpringdaleBrampton—Springdale
Brampton—Springdale is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 2004.-History:...
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...
. This decision was opposed by the local Liberal Party riding executive, who had favoured Andrew Kania
Andrew Kania
Andrew Kania was a Canadian Member of Parliament for the electoral district of Brampton West, in Ontario. Kania was elected in the 2008 Canadian federal election, winning as the Liberal Party candidate in the riding vacated by Liberal Colleen Beaumier.Kania was a member of the Standing Committee...
for the nomination. Kania informed the media that Martin had previously allowed him to run for the nomination, and said that he would not rule out standing for election as an independent. The deputy campaign director for the Liberal Party defended Dhalla's selection, describing her as a star candidate
Star candidate
A star candidate refers to a high profile individual who has been recruited as a candidate by a political party. Star candidates have usually excelled in fields outside of politics such as academia, business, the media, journalism and/or sports...
who would be beneficial to the party. This controversy took place against a backdrop of infighting
2004 Liberal Party of Canada infighting
The period between Paul Martin's assumption of the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada on November 14, 2003, and the 2004 federal election being called on May 23, 2004, saw a considerable amount of infighting within the party...
among other Liberal candidates for riding nominations, in which some rejected candidates accused Martin of undermining party democracy. When the election was called, the Liberal riding association endorsed New Democratic Party
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
candidate Kathy Pounder in protest.
One of Dhalla's supporters in the 2004 election was comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
Mike Bullard, for whom Dhalla has worked as a chiropractor. Bullard joked during the campaign that he was helping Dhalla because "all my back trouble is on the right
Right-wing politics
In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...
". She was elected by a comfortable margin as the Liberals were reduced to a minority government
Minority government
A minority government or a minority cabinet is a cabinet of a parliamentary system formed when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in the parliament but is sworn into government to break a Hung Parliament election result. It is also known as a...
nationally. After the election, she was appointed to the Standing Committee on Health.
Dhalla was a prominent organizer of the "Canada for Asia" benefit concert
Benefit concert
A benefit concert or charity concert is a concert, show or gala featuring musicians, comedians, or other performers that is held for a charitable purpose, often directed at a specific and immediate humanitarian crisis. Such events raise both funds and public awareness to address the cause at...
in January 2005, along with Senator
Canadian Senate
The Senate of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the House of Commons, and the monarch . The Senate consists of 105 members appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister...
Jerry Grafstein
Jerry Grafstein
Jerahmiel S. "Jerry" Grafstein is a former Canadian Senator and lawyer.He is married to Carole and has two children, Laurence Stephen and Michael Kevin....
and singer Tom Cochrane
Tom Cochrane
Tom Cochrane, OC Canadian musician and humanitarian, best known for his hit songs "Life Is a Highway", "Lunatic Fringe", "Human Race" and "I Wish You Well". Cochrane fronted the Canadian rock band Red Rider and has won seven Juno Awards...
. The event raised money for victims of the previous month's tsunami
Tsunami
A tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake...
disaster in southeast Asia. In October 2005, Dhalla organized a relief effort for victims of an earthquake in Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
. She also promoted an accelerated foreign credential recognition process to assist recent Canadian immigrants in gaining professional employment.
Dhalla voted in favour of Canada's same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage in Canada
On July 20, 2005, Canada became the fourth country in the world and the first country in the Americas to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide with the enactment of the Civil Marriage Act which provided a gender-neutral marriage definition...
legislation in 2005, on the grounds that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada. It forms the first part of the Constitution Act, 1982...
must confer equality on different groups in society.
The Liberal government was defeated by a motion of no confidence
Motion of no confidence
A motion of no confidence is a parliamentary motion whose passing would demonstrate to the head of state that the elected parliament no longer has confidence in the appointed government.-Overview:Typically, when a parliament passes a vote of no...
in late 2005, and a new election
Canadian federal election, 2006
The 2006 Canadian federal election was held on January 23, 2006, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 39th Parliament of Canada. The Conservative Party of Canada won the greatest number of seats: 40.3% of seats, or 124 out of 308, up from 99 seats in 2004, and 36.3% of votes:...
was called for early 2006. Dhalla officially launched her re-election campaign in early December, with Bollywood actor Arjun Rampal
Arjun Rampal
Arjun Rampal , born 26 November 1972, is an award-winning Indian actor who appears in Bollywood films, as well as a fashion model.- Film career :...
as a star attendee. Conservative candidate Sam Hundal attempted to use same-sex marriage as a wedge issue
Wedge issue
A wedge issue is a social or political issue, often of a divisive or otherwise controversial nature, which splits apart or creates a "wedge" in the support base of one political group...
among recent immigrant voters, but was unsuccessful. Dhalla was easily re-elected, while the Conservatives won a minority government at the national level.
39th Canadian Parliament
After the election, Dhalla was appointed as the Liberal Health Critic in the Official Opposition. In June 2006, she criticized Health MinisterMinister of Health (Canada)
The Minister of Health is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for overseeing the federal government's health department and the enforcing the Public Health Agency of Canada, Canada Health Act, the law governing Medicare...
Tony Clement
Tony Clement
Tony Peter Clement, PC, MP is a Canadian federal politician, President of the Treasury Board, Minister for the Federal Economic Initiative for Northern Ontario and member of the Conservative Party of Canada....
over a possible conflict-of-interest relating to his ownership of shares in Prudential Chem Inc. The following month, she described Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
Stephen Harper
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
's refusal to attend an international AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
conference in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
as "extremely upsetting".
In June 2006, Dhalla alleged that the Conservatives had tried to convince her to cross the floor and join the party, as part of a campaign to win the support of youth, women and ethnic voters. She turned down the offer, saying that the Conservatives do not represent her values. She later criticized Wajid Khan
Wajid Khan
Wajid Ali Khan is a Canadian businessman and politician. Until 2008, he was a member of the Canadian House of Commons, representing the riding of Mississauga—Streetsville as a Conservative Member of Parliament.-Early life:Khan served as an officer and a pilot in the Pakistan Air Force from 1966 to...
for crossing from the Liberals to the Conservatives. (Khan was defeated in the 2008 federal election
Canadian federal election, 2008
The 2008 Canadian federal election was held on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons of the 40th Canadian Parliament after the previous parliament had been dissolved by the Governor General on September 7, 2008...
.)
Michael Ignatieff
Michael Grant Ignatieff is a Canadian author, academic and former politician. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Leader of the Official Opposition from 2008 until 2011...
. She was the Ignatieff Leadership Campaign's national co-chair, alongside Senator
Canadian Senate
The Senate of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the House of Commons, and the monarch . The Senate consists of 105 members appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister...
David Smith and Member of Parliament Denis Coderre
Denis Coderre
Denis Coderre, PC, MP is a Canadian politician from Quebec, Canada. Coderre is the Liberal Member of Parliament for the Montreal riding of Bourassa.-Background:...
. Ignatieff was defeated by Stéphane Dion
Stéphane Dion
Stéphane Maurice Dion, PC, MP is a Canadian politician who has been the Member of Parliament for the riding of Saint-Laurent–Cartierville in Montreal since 1996. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and the Leader of the Opposition in the Canadian House of Commons from 2006 to 2008...
on the final ballot of the 2006 Liberal leadership convention.
Dion announced his new shadow cabinet
Shadow Cabinet
The Shadow Cabinet is a senior group of opposition spokespeople in the Westminster system of government who together under the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition form an alternative cabinet to the government's, whose members shadow or mark each individual member of the government...
in January 2007, and reassigned Dhalla from Health to Social Development. She criticized the Conservatives for canceling the Martin government's national day-care plan, and spoke against the prospect of large, for-profit foreign firms taking over the industry. She also wrote an opinion piece for the Toronto Star
Toronto Star
The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
newspaper in early 2008, calling for developed countries to invest the necessary resources to target tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
in the global south.
Dhalla opposed the Conservative government's changes to Canada's immigration laws in early 2008, wherein the government set an annual limit on the number of cases to be heard and gave the Immigration Minister
Minister of Citizenship and Immigration (Canada)
The Minister of Citizenship and Immigration is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for overseeing the federal government department responsible for immigration, refugee and citizenship issues, Citizenship and Immigration Canada...
the discretion to fast-track some applicants. Dhalla suggested that the Conservatives would show favouritism to immigrants from certain communities. She was quoted as saying, "I think they're really picking and choosing for political purposes which communities they want to work with, and that is why there is a fear among these communities that the immigration laws being proposed right now are going to have an impact on them."
Dhalla issued a Private Member's Bill
Private Member's Bill
A member of parliament’s legislative motion, called a private member's bill or a member's bill in some parliaments, is a proposed law introduced by a member of a legislature. In most countries with a parliamentary system, most bills are proposed by the government, not by individual members of the...
in April 2008, calling on the federal government to apologize for the 1914 Komagata Maru incident, in which a ship with 376 mostly Sikh immigrants was denied access to Canada. The bill was unanimously passed the following month.
She faced a difficult re-election in 2008
Canadian federal election, 2008
The 2008 Canadian federal election was held on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons of the 40th Canadian Parliament after the previous parliament had been dissolved by the Governor General on September 7, 2008...
, and ultimately defeated Conservative candidate Parm Gill
Parm Gill
Paramjit Gill is an elected member of the Canadian Parliament, 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.-Early life:...
by a small margin amid a provincial swing from the Liberals to Conservatives. This contest was marked by open animosity between the candidates. The Conservatives were re-elected to a second minority government on the national level. Shortly after the election, a Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
man was charged with making a death threat
Death threat
A death threat is a threat of death, often made anonymously, by one person or a group of people to kill another person or groups of people. These threats are usually designed to intimidate victims in order to manipulate their behavior, thus a death threat is a form of coercion...
against Dhalla.
January 2008 Indian visit
Dhalla traveled to the Indian state of PunjabPunjab (India)
Punjab ) is a state in the northwest of the Republic of India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest as well as the Pakistani province of Punjab to the...
in January 2008. While attending a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) seminar, she called on the state government to introduce more stringent laws to prevent the abuse of married women. She later visited her parent's village of Mullanpur
Mullanpur
[Sometimes called Mandi Mullanpur , or Mullanpur]Location : Ludhiana, Punjab, IndiaWebsite: and A town located 18 km from Ludhiana on the Grand Trunk Road to Jagraon. Postal Code is 141101 and telephone area code is 0161 [same as Ludhiana]...
.
During this trip, a member of Dhalla's staff had a purse
Handbag
A handbag, or purse in American English, is a handled medium-to-large bag that is often fashionably designed, typically used by women, to hold personal items such as wallet/coins, keys, cosmetics, a hairbrush, pepper spray, cigarettes, mobile phone etc....
stolen by two children. Allegations later surfaced that the children were beaten by the police after being apprehended, and a local television station ran an out-of-context quote from Dhalla that seemed to imply she condoned the violence. The station later issued a full retraction and acknowledged that Dhalla's comments had been presented out of context. Dhalla clarified that she condemned any type of violence against children and called for an investigation into the incident.
40th Canadian Parliament
Stéphane Dion stepped down as Liberal leader after a very poor showing in the 2008 federal election, and Dhalla was mentioned as a possible candidate to succeed him. The Toronto StarToronto Star
The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
listed her as an outside contender, noting that her national profile was not very strong. Before she was able to make her decision, other prominent candidates withdrew from the contest and gave their support to Michael Ignatieff
Michael Ignatieff
Michael Grant Ignatieff is a Canadian author, academic and former politician. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Leader of the Official Opposition from 2008 until 2011...
. In December, Dhalla announced she would not be a candidate. Ignatieff was duly acclaimed as interim leader in January 2009, and was officially confirmed as party leader later in the year.
In January 2009, Ignatieff appointed Dhalla as the Liberal critic for Youth and Multiculturalism.
Caregivers controversy
On May 5, 2009, the Toronto StarToronto Star
The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
newspaper ran a front-page story with allegations that two caregivers hired to look after Dhalla's mother had been illegally employed and mistreated. The caregivers alleged that their passports had been seized and that they had been forced to do several chores outside their job description. A third caregiver later came forward with similar charges. Dhalla responded that she was "shocked and appalled" by the allegations and that the caregivers had never been abused. She later released a statement indicating that she had no involvement with the hiring or supervision of the women.
Dhalla stepped down as the Liberal Youth and Multiculturalism Critic on May 6 and called for a federal ethics investigation to clear her name. She held a press conference two days later in which she described the allegations against her as a coordinated attack on her reputation. Dhalla's lawyer suggested that the controversy was part of a partisan smear campaign
Smear campaign
A smear campaign, smear tactic or simply smear is a metaphor for activity that can harm an individual or group's reputation by conflation with a stigmatized group...
orchestrated by her political opponents. Her lawyer later informed the media that one of the caregivers had made unfounded charges against another employer in the past.
Immigration Minister
Minister of Citizenship and Immigration (Canada)
The Minister of Citizenship and Immigration is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for overseeing the federal government department responsible for immigration, refugee and citizenship issues, Citizenship and Immigration Canada...
Jason Kenney
Jason Kenney
Jason T. Kenney, PC, MP is Canada's current Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism. He has represented the riding of Calgary Southeast in the Canadian House of Commons since 1997....
denied the suggestion of political interference, saying he had no personal knowledge of the matter until it was reported by the media. His ministerial assistant Alykhan Velshi
Alykhan Velshi
Alykhan Velshi is a lawyer, policy analyst, and ministerial assistant. He has worked at the predominantly neoconservative American Enterprise Institute and was manager of research at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, where he co-founded the Center for Law and Counterterrorism with...
was later seen handing out documents at a meeting of the Immigration Committee in a bid to discredit Dhalla. Some believe Velshi's actions caused a chilling effect among civil servants in Kenney's department, preventing them from reviewing the case in a fair and open manner.
Ultimately, no charges were filed. Dhalla asked the public and media to "hold judgment and give [her] family privacy".
Electoral record
All electoral information is taken from Elections CanadaElections Canada
Elections Canada is an independent, non-partisan agency reporting directly to the Parliament of Canada. Its ongoing responsibility is to ensure that Canadians can exercise their choices in federal elections and referenda through an open and impartial process...
. Italicized expenditures refer to submitted totals, and are presented when the final reviewed totals are not available.