Parm Gill

Parm Gill (born May 17, 1974) is a Canadian politician, who has served in the House of Commons of Canada and the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

This article is about the Ontario MPP. For Parm Gill, the UEFA Gold award-winner, see Guru Nanak Darbar Gurdwara.

Parm Gill MPP
Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing (Housing)
Incumbent
Assumed office June 26, 2019
Minister	Steve Clark
Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament for Milton
Incumbent
Assumed office June 7, 2018
Preceded by	Indira Naidoo-Harris[1]
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Brampton—Springdale
In office May 2, 2011 – August 4, 2015
Preceded by	Ruby Dhalla
Succeeded by	Riding abolished
Personal details
Born	Paramjit Gill (1974-05-17) May 17, 1974 Moga district, Punjab, India[2]
Political party	Conservative
Profession	Entrepreneur

As a member of the Conservative Party, he represented the riding of Brampton—Springdale in Ontario in the House of Commons of Canada from 2011 to 2015, holding roles as parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs and the Minister of International Trade from 2013 until his defeat in the 2015 federal election.

He was elected to the provincial legislature, representing Milton for the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, in the 2018 provincial election.

Early life

Gill was born on May 17, 1974, in Moga, Punjab in India.[3]

He moved to Canada at a young age. Before politics, he was an entrepreneur and business executive.[3] He worked on his family's businesses, which include a furniture manufacturing factory and some restaurants that he ran with his older brother.[4]

Political career

According to Gill, he had become involved in federal politics because the thought of Canada legalizing same-sex marriage "pushed him over the edge."[5] In the 2006 federal election, Gill ran in York West, and lost to Liberal MP Judy Sgro by over 15000 votes.[6] In the 2008 federal election, Gill ran in Brampton—Springdale against incumbent Ruby Dhalla, but was narrowly defeated by 773 votes.[4] The election campaign between the two were heated, and during an all-candidates' debate, Dhalla brought up how Gill's brother had been charged with vandalizing her campaign signs in 2006, even though the charges were dropped, and Gill attacked Dhalla for failing to do enough for a boy beaten by police in India after stealing her aide's purse.[7]

He was elected as a Conservative Party of Canada Member of Parliament representing Brampton Springdale in the 2011 election, defeating Dhalla.[4]

In October 2011, Gill gave a rare mention of the Indian sport of kabaddi in a member's statement supporting the Canadian men's team participating in the upcoming World's Cup in India. Gill and fellow Conservative MP Tim Uppal would later watch the Canadian men upset the Pakistani team in the semifinals.[8]

After witnessing increased gang activity in his riding, Gill toured Western Canadian cities in December 2011 to speak with police and community organizations to see how this could be stopped.[9] In May 2012, Gill introduced a private members bill, C-394, which made it a crime to target someone for recruitment into a gang.[9][10] It was eventually passed into law in June 2014.[11][12]

In September 2013, Gill was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs.[3] During Rob Ford's drug scandal, Gill was one of the few federal politicians to offer support for the embattled mayor, calling him a "great mayor" who was "doing a wonderful job" in November 2013, and claimed that Torontonians were happy with his record.[13]

In January 2015, Gill was appointed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to the role of a Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade.[14] In May 2015, Gill wrote letters of support to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for two of his constituents' competing applications for a community radio station in Brampton. The Conflict of Interest Act bars parliamentary secretaries from writing such letters to the CRTC and other administrative tribunals, and in October 2013, ethics commissioner Mary Dawson had issued a directive to that effect.[15] The Ethics Commissioner ruled in February 2016 that although he had acted in good faith, Gill had violated the Conflict of Interest Act.[16][17]

2015 election

Redistribution of federal ridings took place and concluded shortly before the 2015 federal election. Gill's riding, Brampton-Springdale, was eliminated,[18] and he ran in the new riding of Brampton North.[19]

In August 2015, the Huffington Post reported that a supporter of Gill's who previously bundled donations to Liberal MP Jim Karygiannis, had switched his allegiance and had induced Liberal supporters into donating to Gill without their consent. In October 2015, a week and a half before voting day, it was reported that the commissioner of Elections Canada launched an investigation into these claims.[20][21]

During the election, Gill criticized the provincial Ontario Liberal Party and Premier Kathleen Wynne's proposed updates to the sexual education curriculum, which had not been changed since 1998. The changes included teaching that homosexuality was acceptable in Grade 3, teaching about puberty in Grade 4 as opposed to Grade 5, and teaching about masturbation and gender expression in Grade 6.[22] Gill described the changes as "graphic and explicit" in a taxpayer-funded mailout which conflated the provincial party's education policies with those of separate federal Liberal party, which has no constitutional jurisdiction in the field. In the mailout, Gill also said that it was part of a Liberal attack on family values and parent's right to control the education of their children.[23] In a 2015 video with the Punjabi Post, Gill described some segments of the new education curriculum as "disgusting."[5]

Gill lost to Liberal candidate Ruby Sahota.[19]

Provincial politics

On October 29, 2016, Gill announced that he would seek the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario nomination in Milton for the 42nd Ontario general election.[24] On June 18, 2017, he won the nomination.[25] In June 2017, then Progressive Conservative leader Patrick Brown said that Gill's position on gay rights had shifted, and he was now "100 per cent" in favour of gay rights.[5]

On June 7, 2018 Gill won the Ontario general election in the riding of Milton as a member of the Progressive Conservatives.[26]

Personal life

Gill lives in Milton with his wife Amarpal, with whom he has two sons, Daman and Raman, and a daughter, Parmeet.[27]

Electoral record

2018 Ontario general election: Milton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressive Conservative	Parm Gill	18,249	41.67
	Liberal	Indira Naidoo-Harris	13,064	29.83
	New Democratic	Brendan Smyth	9,740	22.24
	Green	Eleanor Hayward	2,200	5.02
	Libertarian	Benjamin Cunningham	366	0.84
	Social Reform	Enam Ahmed	170	0.39
Total valid votes			43,789	99.09
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots			403	0.91
Turnout			44,192
Eligible voters
Source: Elections Ontario[28]

2015 Canadian federal election: Brampton North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Ruby Sahota	23,297	48.37	+20.21	$136,386.70
	Conservative	Parm Gill	15,888	32.99	-15.88	$194,312.26
	New Democratic	Martin Singh	7,946	16.50	-2.34	$78,854.84
	Green	Pauline Thornham	915	1.90	-1.78	$146.44
	Communist	Harinderpal Hundal	120	0.25	–	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			48,166	100.00		$206,076.29
Total rejected ballots			318	0.66	–
Turnout			48,484	66.13	–
Eligible voters			73,321
	Liberal notional gain from Conservative		Swing		+18.05
Source: Elections Canada[29][30]

2011 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Parm Gill	24,617	48.3%	–	–
	Liberal	Ruby Dhalla	14,231	27.9%	–	–
	New Democratic	Manjit Grewal	9,963	19.6%	–	–
	Green	Mark Hoffberg	1,926	3.8%	–	–
	Communist	Liz Rowley	219	0.4%	–	–
Total valid votes			50,956	100.0%	–

2008 Canadian federal election: Brampton—Springdale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Ruby Dhalla	18,577	41.03	−6.3	$80,011
	Conservative	Parm Gill	17,804	39.32	+5.5	$86,444
	New Democratic	Mani Singh	5,238	11.57	−6.1	$21,152
	Green	Dave Finlay	3,516	7.76	+3.9	$746
	Communist	Dimitrios Kabitsis	135	0.29	+0.1	$407
Total valid votes/Expense Limit			45,270	100.0	–	$87,594
Total rejected ballots			419	0.92
Turnout			45,689	54.24	−7.0
Electors on the lists			84,239

2006 Canadian federal election: York West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Judy Sgro	21,418	63.78	$48,741.93
	Conservative	Parm Gill	6,244	18.59	$71,005.65
	New Democratic	Sandra Romano Anthony	4,724	14.07	$8,845.73
	Green	Nick Capra	1,002	2.98	$1,692.18
	Independent	Axcel Cocon	192	0.57	$1,801.61
Total valid votes			33,580	100.00
Total rejected ballots			261
Turnout			33,841	57.90
Electors on the lists			58,450

References

1. Halton
2. Chaudhry, Amrita (4 May 2011). "Moga man Gill trumps Ruby Dhalla". Indian Express. Retrieved 4 May 2011.
3. "Parm Gill". lop.parl.ca. Library of Parliament. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
4. Grewal, San (May 3, 2011). "Conservative Parm Gill defeats Ruby Dhalla in Brampton-Springdale". The Toronto Star. ISSN 0319-0781. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
5. Ferguson, Rob (June 19, 2017). "Ontario PC Leader Patrick Brown says newest candidate Parm Gill now supports gay rights, despite past comments". The Toronto Star. ISSN 0319-0781. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
6. "York West". CBC.ca. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
7. Boyle, Theresa (October 15, 2008). "Bitter battle between Dhalla and Gill". The Toronto Star. ISSN 0319-0781. Retrieved February 2, 2018.
8. Friesen, Joe (December 1, 2011). "Courting kabaddi, politicians play a dangerous game". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
9. McKnight, Zoe (May 4, 2012). "Ontario MP’s gang recruitment bill finding support". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
10. Kaplan, Ben (May 5, 2012). "Erasing signs of gang life". National Post. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
11. "Bills that became law so far in this session of Parliament". CBC News. June 19, 2014. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
12. "LEGISinfo - Private Member's Bill C-394 (41-2)". www.parl.ca. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
13. Goodman, Lee-Anne (1 November 2013). "Conservative MP Parm Gill: Rob Ford a 'great mayor'". CTV News. The Canadian Press. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
14. "Parm Gill Is Now Parliamentary Secretary To The Minister Of International Trade | Indo-Canadian Voice". www.voiceonline.com. Retrieved 2016-03-17.
15. Bronskill, Jim (October 8, 2015). "Tory candidate subject of ethics probe after lobbying CRTC for radio licences". CBC News. The Canadian Press. Retrieved November 24, 2016.
16. Bronskill, Jim (August 25, 2016). "Ethics commissioner says Liberal MP's CRTC letter was improper". iPolitics. The Canadian Press. Retrieved November 24, 2016.
17. Dawson, Mary (February 24, 2016). "The Gill Report" (PDF). Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner. Retrieved November 24, 2016.
18. "Proposed Boundaries – Ontario - Redistribution Federal Electoral Districts". www.redecoupage-federal-redistribution.ca. Retrieved 2016-03-18.
19. Grewal, San (October 20, 2015). "Liberal Ruby Sahota wins in Brampton North". Toronto Star. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
20. Raj, Althia (August 26, 2015). "Parm Gill Tory Donation Shows Up On Liberal Supporter's Credit Card". HuffPost Canada. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
21. Raj, Althia (8 October 2015). "Parm Gill, Conservative Candidate, Investigated By Elections Commissioner". The Huffington Post Canada. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
22. Ross, Selena (September 9, 2015). "Ontario's new sex-ed curriculum threatens to become federal election issue". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
23. Maloney, Ryan (April 15, 2015). "Parm Gill's Mailout On Ontario Sex Ed Curriculum Links Policy To Federal Liberals". HuffPost Canada. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
24. https://www.facebook.com/MPParmGill/posts/1162254647223769
25. "Gill wins provincial PC nomination in Milton". Inside Halton. 19 June 2017. Retrieved 2017-06-19.
26. Peesker, Saira (2018-06-08). "PC Parm Gill takes Milton in decisive victory". InsideHalton.com. Retrieved 2018-06-26.
27. "PARM GILL". Retrieved 8 October 2015.
28. "Summary of Valid Votes Cast for each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. p. 6. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
29. Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Brampton North, 30 September 2015
30. Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates

External links

• Parm Gill – Parliament of Canada biography