Deepak Obhrai was first elected to the House
of Commons in 1997, and was re-elected in 2000
and 2004. Currently Mr. Obhrai serves as Critic
for Multiculturalism and Critic for International
Trade (Emerging Markets).
Mr. Obhrai is a former entrepreneur and public
servant. He is the owner of Indo Canadian Enterprises,
a company formed to explore joint venture opportunities
in overseas markets.
Mr. Obhrai is deeply involved in the community.
He is past President of the India-Canada Association,
Monterey Community Association, Hindu Society
of Calgary and past Vice-President of the National
Indo/Canadian Council. Mr. Obhrai has also acted
as an international election observer.
Mr. Obhrai and his wife Neena have three children.
Mr. Obhrai speaks English, Hindi, Punjabi, and
Swahili.
NRI press
Deepak Obhrai was first elected as the Member
of Parliament for Calgary East in 1997. He
was then re-elected in 2000 and 2004
Deepak Obhrai is a Calgary
businessman and a former City of Calgary employee.
He is the owner of a company formed to explore
joint venture opportunities in the overseas
markets. His wife gave up her business in
Calgary to help him in the campaign. Obhrai
is a full-time politician who has been senior
critic for international affairs, a cabinet
post in the Conservative Party. He has three
children.
The "Punjabi Hindu",
as he describes himself, was born in Tanzania
and at 16, his mother packed off the impressionable
youth to India to study at Daly College, Indore,
Madhya Pradesh. But Obhrai lived with his
'masi', or maternal aunt, and gradually got
used to the Indian way of life in two years.
He worked as a taxi driver
and a bus operator, a labourer before going
on to become a Conservative member of the
Canadian parliament from Calgary, Alberta.
Obhrai came to Canada in 1977, faced the trials
and tribulations of a new immigrant. He faced
discrimination when he first came to Canada.
He enrolled for an accountant's
course and since then has fought against discrimination.
Soon he and his wife Neena became the owners
of three dry-cleaning businesses and two rental
properties. In the 1990s, he became active
in community affairs and entered politics.
Obhrai was a member of the
Team Canada Trade Mission to India in January
1996, as a business delegate. He is involved
with his community and is the past president
of the India-Canada Association, Monterey
Community Association and the Hindu Society
of Calgary and Vice-President of the National
Indo/Canadian Council.
Mr. Obhrai accompanied the
Governor General on a State Visit to India
and Pakistan (1998) and Africa, including
Tanzania (1999) where he was born. Mr. Obhrai
attended a meeting of African Development
Bank directors in Cairo and acted as an election
observer on behalf of the Government of Canada
in Chiappas, Mexico. As International Trade
critic, Mr. Obhrai participated in trade missions
to Algeria, Argentina, Chile, China, India,
Mexico, Morocco, Spain, Uruguay and Washington.
He was also a member of the Canadian delegation
that attended World Trade Organization negotiations
in Seattle and Doha. Mr. Obhrai attended the
59th United Nations Commission on Human Rights
(UNCHR), which was recently held in Geneva.
Mr. Obhrai also visited Southeast Asia and
South Asia on a Foreign Affairs Committee
tour to study the Canadian relationship with
the Muslim World.
Mr. Obhrai just recently participated
in a delegation with the Minister of International
Cooperation for an international Afghanistan
Conference in Berlin on 31 March and 1 April
2004. They joined more than 60 delegations
- including all EU, G8 and NATO states, as
well as Afghanistan's neighbours and other
countries with a particular commitment to
Afghanistan.
