Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's gamble to seek a majority by calling a snap election did not pay off even if he won additional seats in the west but lost key battle grounds in the east and in the Atlantic. However, 17 Indo-Canadians were elected MPs, majority of them from Trudeau’s Liberals, which has one of the diverse slate of elected MPs from any party. In last Monday’s election, Liberal Party ended up about 10 seats short of the 170-mark in the 338-member House of Commons after squeaking wins in a number of close ridings days after election night.

By DESIBUZZCanada Staff

TORONTO - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's gamble to seek a majority by calling a snap election did not pay off even if he won additional seats in the west but lost key battlegrounds in the east and in the Atlantic.

However, 17 Indo-Canadians were elected MPs, majority of them from Trudeau’s Liberals, which has one of the diverse slate of elected MPs from any party.

In last Monday’s election, Liberal Party ended up about 10 seats short of the 170-mark in the 338-member House of Commons after squeaking wins in a number of close ridings days after election night.

Jagmeet Singh-led New Democratic Party (NDP), which didn’t end up gaining any seats from their last total of 24, will again hold the balance of power.

The Opposition Conservative Party ended up with a tally of 119 seats –several seats less than when the House dissolved House.

Among the 17 Indo-Canadian winners are Jagmeet Singh, former Minister Tim Uppal and three current Cabinet Ministers Harjit Singh Sajjan, Bardish Chagger and Anita Anand.

Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan again won from Vancouver South by beating Sukhbir Gill of the Conservative Party.

Chagger, Minister of Diversity, too retained her Waterloo seat as did Public Service Minister Anand her Oakville seat.

In British Columbia, three-time Liberal Party MP Sukh Dhaliwal retained his Surrey-Newton seat by beating fellow Punjabi Avneet Johal of the NDP.

Two-time Liberal Party MP Randeep Singh Sarai also won the Surrey Centre seat by beating Sonia Andhi of the NDP.

In Quebec, the sitting Indo-Canadian Anju Dhillon retained her Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle seat.

In Alberta, Jasraj Singh Hallan retained the Calgary Forest Lawn seat, but his fellow Conservative MP Jag Sahota lost to fellow Sikh George Chahal of the Liberal Party.

Uppal is back once again after retaining the Edmonton Mill Woods seat for the Conservative party.

He is the brother-in-law of Congress MLA from Jalandhar Cantt, Pargat Singh.

In Ontario, the Punjabi-dominated city of Brampton again re-elected all the four sitting Indo-Canadian MPs – Maninder Sidhu, Ruby Sahota, Sonia Sidhu and Kamal Khera – against fellow Indo-Canadians Naval Bajaj, Medha Joshi, Ramandeep Brar and Gurprit Gill, respectively.

The winners belong to Trudeau's Liberal Party.

Chandra Arya too retained the Napean seat in Ontario.

Lawyer Iqwinder Gaheer, who won the Mississauga-Malton seat for the Liberal Party, will be one of the youngest MPs to go to the House of Commons in Ottawa.