Sitting Mayor of “Mini Punjab” Linda Jeffrey was defeated by former Progressive Conservative Party (PCP) leader Patrick Brown, who was forced out of the leadership after charges of sexual harassment surfaced, making way for Doug Ford to capture the leadership leading to him seizing power in the province.

BRAMPTON – Three Indo-Canadians were elected to council and school trustee posts while the Indo-Canadian community helped put controversial former Ontario Conservative in the Mayor's seat in Beampton.

While nearly three dozen candidates were in the civic election fray, only three registered victories in the high-voltage Brampton civic elections on Monday.

Sitting Mayor of “Mini Punjab” Linda Jeffrey was defeated by former Progressive Conservative Party (PCP) leader Patrick Brown, who was forced out of the leadership after charges of sexual harassment surfaced, making way for Doug Ford to capture the leadership leading to him seizing power in the province.

Brown emerged from the political shackles to defeat Jeffrey, who had significant support from the Sikh community in Brampton.

Balbir Sohi, a dental hygiene professional and social worker, wrested the prestigious position of the Trustee of the Peel District School Board. Sohi polled 4,986 votes (21.98 per cent) of the total 22,686 in wards 9 and 10. 

Incumbent Gurpreet Dhillon defeated Vicky Dhillon, a Brampton city councillor for eight years till 2014, in a keen contest for Regional Councillor in wards 9 and 10. He polled 14,330 votes (55.46 per cent) against Vicky Dhillon’s 5,238 (20.27 per cent).

Harkirat Singh was elected as Brampton City councillor, polling 10,804 votes (42.87 per cent) against his nearest rival Michael Farquharson’s 4,629 votes in wards 9 and 10.

For the mayoral post, former minister Baljit Gosal, the lone Punjabi in the race, polled 5,319 (5.04 per cent) votes against 46,894 (44.43 per cent) polled by winner Brown and 42,993 votes (40.73 per cent) by chief rival Jeffery.

While a sizeable chunk of Sikh radicals were supporting Jeffery, a majority of Hindus, particularly those from Gujarat, had thrown their weight behind Brown.

Bramptonians elected the Mayor, five city councillors (each representing two wards), five regional councillors (each representing two wards) and a Trustee for the Peel District School Board.

One trustee for the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board was also elected but none of the members from the Punjabi Diaspora participated in its election.