As Canada goes to the polls on Monday, nearly 45 candidates of Indian origin will test their fate after a quiet but aggressive campaign to woo the immigrant community with speeches in Hindi and Punjabi besides promises to take up issues close to their heart.
Most of the Indo-Canadians running for the elections are from the Conservative Party (13), followed by the ruling Liberal Party (11) and the New Democratic Party (8).
Canada's Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh, Ruby Dhalla, youngest Member of Parliament, Herb Dhaliwal, Gurbax Malhi, Navdeep Bains, Jagtar Shergil, Bal Gosal, Jaipal Massey-Singh are among the 45 candidates of Indian origin who for the past six weeks have been campaigning for votes through personal contacts and other means of communications.
Despite heavy snowfall and temperatures at times dipping to minus 20 degree Celsius, the candidates were knocking doors, listening to complaints, and asking people to vote for them.
Unlike Indian elections, there were no big rallies or posters on walls - the campaign was quiet with candidates addressing voters in small gatherings organised at shopping malls, places of worships, schools and community centres.
For conservative party candidate Gosal, campaigning was mainly a family affair with his wife, son and two daughters going around constituencies in a small truck and listening to complaints.
Gosal said he has campaigned in three languages, Punjabi for his large Sikh constituents, Hindi for other Indians and English for the rest. The same holds true for rest of the candidates.
Liberal party candidate Dhalla said, "This is a great country. You can come here, get a job and can run for Parliament."
Dhalla promised she would take up with the federal government the need to recognise foreign credentials. The major goal for the Indian origin community is recognition of their foreign credentials. Many of them are not accepted in their professions because the process of education upgrades is not only expensive, but complex and takes years.
As a result foreign professionals in Canada are driving taxis, selling pizzas, working as security guards or doing labour jobs.
Over 1600 candidates are in the fray for the total 308 seats. The election was necessitated after the Liberal Party's minority government lost a no-confidence motion in December.
The Liberal party is seeking votes to maintain Canada's identity as a sovereign state but the main opposition Conservative party is asking voters to vote for change in the wake of corruption charges against the ruling party.
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