Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria KC MPP (Punjabi: ਪ੍ਰਭਮੀਤ ਸਰਕਾਰੀਆ) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who has been the Ontario minister of transportation since 2023. He has sat as the member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Brampton South since 2018, representing the Progressive Conservative (PC) Party.
Sarkaria was previously the associate minister of red tape reduction from 2019 to 2021 and president of the Treasury Board of Ontario from 2021 to 2023. Sarkaria is the first turban-wearing Sikh to be appointed to cabinet.
Early and personal life
editSarkaria was born in Orangeville, Ontario.[1] Sarkaria’s parents immigrated from Punjab, India in the 1980s. His father drove a taxi and mother worked in a factory until they later became small business owners, after purchasing an inn outside of Orangeville.[2]
Sarkaria attended Wilfrid Laurier University, where he completed a Bachelor of Business Administration degree, majoring in finance. He worked in at TD Securities, before attending law school at the University of Windsor.[3] He worked at Miller Thomson as an associate corporate lawyer until his election.[4][5]
Before entering provincial politics, Sarkaria served on the City of Brampton’s Property Standards Committee, and was an organizer for the annual Hockey for Humanity tournament. He was also the former Ontario Vice President of the World Sikh Organization, an organization that advocates for the Sikh community diaspora.[6]
Sarkaria lives in Brampton, Ontario,[1] with his wife, Sarpreet, who works for Loblaw as a senior merchandising analyst. Sarkaria's daughter, Deyva, was born in May 2020.[2]
Political positions
editSarkaria was nominated to be the PC Party candidate for Brampton South on December 8, 2016.[6]Sarkaria is the first turban-wearing Sikh to be appointed to cabinet.[7]
Prior to his appointment as a minister, Sarkaria was the chair of the Select Committee on Financial Transparency and also served on the Standing Committee on Justice Policy. He also previously served as the parliamentary assistant to the solicitor general (formerly known as the minister of community safety and correctional services).[8]
He stepped down as the parliamentary assistant to the solicitor general on June 20, 2019 when he was appointed to the Executive Council of Ontario as the associate minister of small business and red tape reduction.
Electoral results
edit| 2022 Ontario general election: Brampton South | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Prabmeet Sarkaria | 12,980 | 45.38 | +4.37 | ||||
| Liberal | Marilyn Raphael | 7,957 | 27.82 | +8.92 | ||||
| New Democratic | Andria Barrett | 5,475 | 19.14 | −14.70 | ||||
| Green | Ines Espinoza | 1,028 | 3.59 | −0.26 | ||||
| New Blue | Mike Mol | 974 | 3.41 | |||||
| None of the Above | Mehdi Pakzad | 188 | 0.66 | |||||
| Total valid votes | 28,602 | 100.0 | ||||||
| Total rejected, unmarked, and declined ballots | 112 | |||||||
| Turnout | 28,714 | 35.81 | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 79,835 | |||||||
| Progressive Conservative hold | Swing | −2.28 | ||||||
Source(s)
| ||||||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Progressive Conservative | Prabmeet Sarkaria | 15,652 | 41.01% | ||||
| New Democratic | Paramjit Gill | 12,919 | 33.85% | ||||
| Liberal | Sukhwant Thethi | 7,212 | 18.89% | ||||
| Green | Lindsay Falt | 1,472 | 3.86% | ||||
| Libertarian | Brian Watson | 363 | 0.95% | ||||
| Trillium | John Grant | 337 | 0.88% | ||||
| Freedom | Ted Harlson | 214 | 0.56% | ||||
| Total valid votes | 100.0 | ||||||
| Source: Elections Ontario[9] | |||||||
| Progressive Conservative pickup new district.
| |||||||
Cabinet posts
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Guardian, Iain Colpitts Brampton (7 May 2018). "Ontario PC candidate Brampton South riding Prabmeet Singh Sakaria". Brampton Guardian. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
- ^ a b ""Newborns and politicians-in-crisis keep similar hours": Small business minister Prabmeet Sarkaria on becoming a new dad while trying to save the economy". Toronto Life. 18 June 2020. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
- ^ "Meet Prabmeet Sarkaria, MPP | Brampton South". Prabmeet Sarkaria, MPP. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
- ^ "Prabmeet Sarkaria". LinkedIn.
- ^ "Exclusive Interview With Hon. Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria - CanadianSME Small Business Magazine". canadiansme.ca. 21 February 2021. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
- ^ a b "Lawyer Prabmeet Sarkaria candidate for Ontario PC Party in Brampton South". Brampton Guardian. 8 December 2016. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
- ^ Service, Tribune News. "Canada's Ontario gets first turban-wearing Sikh minister". Tribuneindia News Service. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
- ^ "Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria | Legislative Assembly of Ontario". 7 June 2018.
- ^ "Summary of Valid Votes Cast for each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 December 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2019.