Dosanjh savoring historic victory, rejects
opposition demand for mid-term poll
J M Shenoy
Ujjal Dosanjh, who made political history when he won a fiercely contested election in the New Democratic Party and became the first-ever Asian premier in Canada, says he has no desire to call for an immediate general election.
The election is due next year, but the opposition Liberals led by Gordon Campbell have started saying that Dosanjh has no mandate to rule British Columbia, especially since recent polls have shown that the NDP support has been eroding.
But a poll last week showed that Dosanjh represents the best hope for the NDP to defeat the Liberals. It said at least 39 per cent of voters would consider voting to re-elect the government under his stewardship, compared to the 21 per cent support it now has.
"In politics, you make things happen your way if you convince the people you mean serious business," Dosanjh said, adding for him politics was a "higher calling."
"When I grew up in India, I heard from my father and grandfather about how Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru had viewed politics," he said. "I still cherish and value the lessons I learned about them."
Dosanjh, 52, was raised in a small village in Punjab; he migrated to England when he was about 17 and came to Canada in the late 1960s and worked as a janitor and a lumber yard worker while going to school in the night.
The NDP election was held to find a new leader who automatically becomes the premier. The party election was prompted by the resignation of Glen Clark, who resigned in August, in a casino licensing scandal. An interim premier ruled British Columbia, the third most populated province in Canada, till the party held a special convention to elect a new leader.
Dosanjh, British Columbia's attorney-general, topped Agriculture Minister Corky Evans on the first ballot, 769 to 549. Evans was supported by, among others, Moe Sihota and Hari Lalli, who like Dosanjh are Sikhs but are allied with conservative and radical Sikh leaders.
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