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Niki Sharma is the new Deputy Premier of British Columbia
Besides Sharma, three more members of Indian descent have found place in the cabinet.
Niki Sharma / X/ @NikiSharma2
Niki Sharma has joined a rare band of Canadian politicians of Indian descent to become a Deputy Premier of a province. When David Eby, the returning Premier of British Columbia, named his new Council of Ministers, he named Sharma as Deputy Premier while retaining her as Attorney General for the second successive term.
It was British Columbia from where Ujjal Dosanjh earned the distinction of becoming the first politician of Indian descent to head the provincial government. In the just concluded provincial assembly elections, members of the Indian Diaspora scripted history by winning a record number of 14 seats.
Eby’s New Democrats won a slim, one-seat majority in last month’s election, taking 47 seats in B.C.’s 93-seat legislature. The new Council of Ministers formally assumed office after a swearing-in ceremony on Monday.
In the new Cabinet, some stalwarts have remained in their current roles, including Ravi Kahlon as minister of housing, Niki Sharma as attorney general (and Deputy Premier), Grace Lore as minister of children and family development, George Chow as minister of citizen’s services and Sheila Malcolmson as minister of social development and poverty reduction.
Besides Sharma and Kahlon, other MLAs of Indian descent inducted in the new Cabinet are Jagrup Brar, who has been given the Mining and Critical Minerals portfolio, and Ravi Parmar as Forests Minister.
Raj Chauhan, who became the first Indo-Canadian to be elected as Speaker in the previous Assembly, is all set to retain his position this time also.
A number of returning cabinet ministers have also been shifted around. Lisa Beare became minister of education and child care, Bowinn Ma is the minister of infrastructure, Jennifer Whiteside became minister of labor, Anne Kang became minister of post-secondary education and future skills and Lana Popham has been named minister of agriculture and food, a portfolio she has held in the past.
Eby said at a news conference following a ceremony to swear in his New Democrat colleagues that the cabinet would focus “on those issues and delivering for British Columbians on those priorities they have for us”.
The premier had to fill almost a dozen new positions, as some of his previous Ministers either did not seek re-election or were defeated this time in the unprecedented rise in the strength of the Conservatives, perhaps for the first time in many decades.
David Eby lost several current cabinet ministers in last month’s election, including Rachna Singh in education, Nathan Cullen in land, water, and resources, and Pam Alexis in agriculture. Veteran cabinet ministers George Heyman, Harry Bains, Katrine Conroy, and Rob Fleming did not run again for election.
The Premier also named 14 parliamentary secretaries. As a result, 41 of 47 NDP MLAs have been given some supervisory legislative work or a portfolio that comes with additional pay. This list of 41 does not include positions like caucus whip, caucus chair, Speaker, and Deputy whip, which also come with a pay top-up.
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