Toronto: The Canada elections on Monday has delivered one oddity: The most common name in the next House of Commons will be Gill.
There was just a single Gill present in the previous House, but that number has risen to seven.
So, veteran MP Marilene Gill of the Bloc Quebecois is a Francophone Quebecker, who retained her seat of Cote-Nord – Kawawachikamach – Nitassinan in Quebec will have plenty of company.
But the six newcomers are all Indo-Canadians with roots in Punjab and curiously, all of them are represent the opposition Conservative Party.
Among them, businessperson Amarjeet Gill made a splash as he defeated Cabinet Minister Kamal Khera of the ruling Liberal Party.
Also on the list is Parm Gill, who was in the provincial Cabinet in Ontario before successfully making the transition to national politics and winning the riding (constituency) of Milton East – Halton Hils South, though with a slender margin.
Making history in a sense was retired police officer Harb Gill, who won the riding of Windsor West. As the local outlet Windsor Star noted, “In what many might see as a shocking upset, Conservative Harb Gill has ousted 23-year NDP incumbent Brian Masse in Windsor West, flipping the riding blue for the first time in its nearly six-decade history.”
Meanwhile, 25-year-old businessperson Sukhman Gill, who was born on his family’s blueberry farm in the area, won the Abbotsford – South Langley riding in British Columbia.
Alberta provided two more Gills.
Dalwinder Gill, who is in real estate, captured Calgary McKnight defeating incumbent Liberal MP George Chahal.
Finally, Amanpreet Gill, former president of the Dashmesh Culture Centre, emerged victorious from Calgary Skyview.
The Gill numbers could have been higher but Conservative candidate Harjit Singh Gill lost to sitting MP Sukh Dhaliwal from Surrey-Newton in British Columbia.
And accountant Amy Gill could have joined the group as its only Liberal member, but she narrowly lost to sitting New Democratic Party MP Don Davies from Vancouver Kingsway, by a margin of just over 300 votes.
Why this sudden profusion of Gills? “It’s a common name in Canada, and they (the candidates) had a good name in the community and were approached by the party,” explained Maninder Singh Gill, managing director of the Surrey-based Radio India.
He said the immigration of the community to Canada was drawn from 52 villages around Moga, Ludhiana and Faridkot in Punjab.
He pointed out their presence in politics wasn’t new as Lachhman Singh Gill was briefly Chief Minister of Punjab between 1967 and 1968.
