Premier John Horgan Tells South Asian Media Roundtable Liberal Fixer Prem Vinning's Name Not On The List!

Ever since the political rumour mills began circling that the next BC Lt. Governor will be from the South Asian community, there has been a speedy line-up of potential Queen's reps from our community including Moe Sihota, Herb Dhaliwal, Dr. Gulzar Cheema, even the recently Order of BC recipient and distinguished legal-beagle Wallace Taru "Wally" Oppal – an easy choice for the gig – who is perhaps the front-runner for the post if he wants it. And then of course there is the supreme federal Liberal fixer Prem Vinning, who seems to be cursed as he has a tendency to always screw up each opportunity. DESIBUZZCanada sources have confirmed that Vinning is pushing hard for the post and has all his lobbyists in Trudeau's face. After several failures and screw-ups that cost Vinning the Canadian Senatorship (another turbaned-Sikh became the Senator), BC Lt. Governor's General's gig is Vinning's last chance at political Glory but most think that his HAIL MARY will not reach the END'S ZONE!!!

By R. Paul Dhillon – Editor-Founder DESIBUZZCanada

SURREY – Curently all the Lt. Governors across Canada are white and there is pressure on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to bring diversity to that institution.

Since there was no inclusion of diversity in the recent Supreme Court of Canda appointments, Trudeau is expected to name a minority to one of the upcoming Lt. Governor openings.

That could happen right here in BC, where replacement for the current BC Lt. Governor Judith Guichon is currently in the works.

According to DESIBUZZCanada sources, BC will appoint (choice is Prime Minister Trudeau's but Premier John Horgan is consulted or notified of the choice in advance), Canada's first ever South Asian as the official representative of the Queen at the provincial level.

The largely non-partisan Lt. Governor post is also the legal head of state in British Columbia, which means he or she acts as chief public representative and has the highest ranking position in the provincial government.

Ever since the political rumour mills began circling that the next BC Lt. Governor will be from the South Asian community, there has been a speedy line-up of potenital Queen's reps from our community including Moe Sihota and the original "Brown Horse" Herb Dhaliwal, who may have passed on the BC Liberal leadership particularly for this appointment being 

that he is the closest to Trudeau.

Others in the running are Dr. Gulzar Cheema and even the recently Order of BC recipient and distinguished legal-beagle Wallace Taru "Wally" Oppal – an easy choice for the gig – who is perhaps the front-runner for the post if he wants it.

Also in the mix, according to our source, is a well known member of the Punjabi radio media has also put his name forward for recommendation but with political insiders already having their guns trained hard from inside, this media man will most likely be reporting on the new Lt. Governor and not being one.

There is also a mystery Dark Horse candidate who can leap-frog ahead of this line-up and get the coveted appointment.

And then of course there is the supreme federal Liberal fixer Prem Vinning, who seems to be cursed as he has a tendency to always screw up each opportunity. DESIBUZZCanada sources have confirmed that Vinning is pushing hard for the post and has all his lobbyists in Trudeau's face.

But an interesting thing occurred at the NDP government Ministers and Premier Horgan's Roundtable with South Asian Media on Thursday afternoon.

Horgan, who was only here in spirit in the form of being on speaker phone due to bad weather keeping him away from the Surrey event, responded frankly to a question about whether he had seen Vinning's name on the short-list of people being considered for the Lt. Governor post.

"Yes I have seen the list from the Prime Minister on the next Lt. Governor appointment and I didn't see Prem's name on the list," Horgan said, stating that it's ultimately the Prime Minister's choice but he will be consulted and informed in advance of whoever the pick is.

Most of the media didn't seem to be interested or cared about this question but it was the most interesting nugget of news at the Roundtable which is basically an excuse by the Government or Opposition to buy the South Asian media lunch and showing that they care about what we do and about our community which is certainly important to the current government as their dominance of the Surrey seats helped them form minority government. But credit does go to the NDP government for doing this as the previous Christy Clark regime never did much with the South Asian media and obviously the arrogance and idiocy cost her big time.

Getting back to the Lt. Governor gig – so who will succeed Guichon and will it be a South Asian as there already has been a Chinese Lt. GG in BC. And does Vinning still have a chance to be in the Lt. Governor's chair as the first turbaned Sikh to be the Queen's Representative.

But Vinning for all his "King-making" powers seem to be cursed as he lost the big $150,000 gig that former Premier Gordon Campbell try to bestow on him only to take it back after the over-enthusiastic Vinning went on TV as one of Campbell-Liberals' infamous "fake-callers".

Vinning then royally screwed up his chance to be the first turbaned-Sikh Canadian senator by accepting a meaningless $28,000 gig from Surrey City Hall and allowed a turbaned-Sikh from Ontario to take that distinguished honour.

A high placed political source told DESIBUZZCanada that he feels sorry for Vinning as he has given his life to the federal Liberal party but all he has to show for it is his nephews and sons having plum federal jobs. "A lot of the blame goes to Vinning himself as he has not been able to elevate himself to the higher calling and also the party has used him and of course he's used the party but hekeeps running into a pole everytime he's close to these plum points," the Source said. "If they pass him over this time for the Lt. Governor, they probably will tell him that he's shortlisted for the Senate appointment coming up in May 2018 and the curse is real." 

Vinning's nephew Bahadhur Vinning works in the PMO office of B.C. and sons Gurpreet Vinning works for Infrastructure and Communities Minister Amarjeet Sohi and Manjeet Vinning works for Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan.

The BC Lt. Governor's gig is Vinning's last chance at political Glory but most think that his HAIL MARY will not reach the END'S ZONE!!!

My personal choice would be Moe Sihota – he was once the Golden Boy of Indo-Canadian politics and he is a remarkable individual and a great politician who has paid his dues and deserves to be recognized as the South Asian who should be the next BC Lt. Governor.