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Dhalla accuses Canadian immigration minister of lying
Sikh woman MP accuses Canadian immigration minister of lying
Toronto, April 29, 2011
An election contest here between two Punjabi candidates for the May 2 parliamentary polls has degenerated into a virtual mud-slinging match.
And this so-called 'Punjab-style' campaigning by former beauty queen and sitting Sikh woman MP Ruby Dhalla of the opposition Liberal Party and her opponent Parm Gill of the ruling Conservative Party in the Toronto suburb of Brampton-Springdale is making the national headlines as the polling day approaches.
Dhalla, who has held the seat thrice since 2004 and won by just 700 votes in the last elections, is fighting with her back to the wall this time.
Now dragging the Canadian immigration minister into her mud-slinging match with her rival, Dhalla has demanded that "Parm Gill (her rival) should be fired as a Conservative candidate after (immigration minister) Jason Kenney repeatedly claimed - falsely - that Mr Gill was not part of a taxpayer-funded official Government of Canada delegation to India in 2009 or that he was not given any privileged access to private government meetings.''
She has alleged that Gill, a private citizen, travelled to India on government expense during the Canadian immigration minister's trip to India two years ago. Though the immigration minister has described her charges as "complete utter rubbish'' and added that "Mr Gill came as did other Canadians of different backgrounds and attended some public events," Dhalla says he is lying.
At a press conference here Wednesday, Dhalla countered the minister, saying, "However, photos from Mr Gill's website confirm that Mr Kenney has officially been misleading Canadians about Mr Gill's involvement in the India trip.
"The photos on Mr Gill's website feature him and Mr. Kenney taking part in a private meeting with Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister of Punjab, head of the provincial government - akin to a premier in Canada.''
She asked, "If Mr Gill wasn't part of an 'official' Government of Canada delegation, what was he doing in the meeting?''
Thirty-seven-year-old Dhalla also accused Gill of promising visas to Indian relatives of people here because of his proximity to the immigration minister.
She quoted an unidentified man telling her, "I was told when I was trying for my mom's visa that he could... if there's anybody who can get things done, it's Parm Gill."
Asking the immigration minister to come clean, the Sikh woman MP said Gill should be fired as a candidate as he was "misleading Canadians about special access given to Canada's immigration system to a private citizen who is a Conservative candidate.''
But Gill rebutted Dhalla's accusation as "false and a reflection of her desperate needs to divert attention from her record of controversies.''
Denying that he travelled to India on government money, he said, "This is categorically false. I travel to India on a regular basis like many Indo-Canadians. In January 2009 and September 2010, I visited India at my own expense. Those two trips coincided with visits by Minister Jason Kenney. I attended public events and also had a chance to have some
photos with him. ''
Dhalla and Gill are among the 23 Indo-Canadians candidates in the 41st Canadian parliamentary elections.....IANS
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