Vic Dhillon

Vic Dhillon (born c. 1969) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2003 to 2018 who represented the ridings of Brampton West—Mississauga and Brampton West.

Vic Dhillon
Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament for Brampton West Brampton West—Mississauga (2003–2007)
In office October 2, 2003 – June 7, 2018
Preceded by	Tony Clement
Succeeded by	Amarjot Sandhu
Personal details
Born	1969 (age 54–55)
Political party	Liberal
Residence	Grand Rapids, Michigan
Occupation	Businessman

Background

Dhillon has lived in Brampton, Ontario for most of his life. He has a degree in business administration from Lakehead University, and helped found a family-owned business in Mississauga after his graduation. He has done fundraising work for the Brampton Food Bank, and led a local initiative to send supplies to eastern Ontario during the ice storm of 1998. Dhillon worked as a constituency assistant to federal Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) Gurbax Singh Malhi for five months after the 1993 federal election, and then worked as an executive assistant to Liberal MP Colleen Beaumier for over nine years.^[1][2]

Politics

Dhillon ran in the 1999 provincial election as the Liberal candidate in the riding of Brampton West—Mississauga. He lost to high-profile Progressive Conservative cabinet minister Tony Clement by 8,310 votes.^[3] He ran again in the 2003 election and this time defeated Clement by 2,512 votes.^[4] Most political observers considered this to be a significant upset. Strong support from the riding's Indo-Canadian community was a factor, as was a provincial swing to the Liberals. He was elected without difficulty in 2007 in the new riding of Brampton West.^[5] He was re-elected in 2011, and 2014.^[6][7]

In 2004, Dhillon was credited by local residents with saving Knights Table, a non-profit diner that provides meals for Brampton's poor and homeless. According to a Toronto Star report, Dhillon introduced the diner's management to Jaswant Singh Birk, who in turn provided the establishment with a generous lease after its previous contract expired.^[8]

He was appointed as parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Government Services on September 20, 2006.^[9]

Dhillon supported Gerard Kennedy's bid to lead the Liberal Party of Canada in 2006.^[10] In December 2006, he introduced a private member's bill to protect transient workers from exploitation by hiring agencies.^[11] The bill was endorsed by the Toronto Star in the following week.^[12]

Dhillon took part in an Ontario government business mission to India in January 2007.^[13]

Until August 2016, Dhillon served as a Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs. From August 2016 to May 2018, he served as Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Government and Consumer Services.

Dhillon ran for re-election in Brampton West in the 2018 Ontario election. He placed third, after the Progressive Conservative and New Democratic Party candidates.^[14]

Electoral record

2018 Ontario general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Amarjot Sandhu	14,951	39.39	+15.05
	New Democratic	Jagroop Singh	14,461	38.09	+14.44
	Liberal	Vic Dhillon	7,013	18.47	−26.76
	Green	Julie Guillemet-Ackerman	999	2.63	−0.11
	Libertarian	David Shaw	364	0.96	−0.64
	Communist	Surjit Sahota	173	0.46	-
Total valid votes			37,961	100.0
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots			268	0.71
Turnout			38,229	47.67
Eligible voters			80,196
	Progressive Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing		-
Source: Elections Ontario^[15]

2014 Ontario general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Vic Dhillon	24,832	45.23	+1.47
	Progressive Conservative	Randeep Sandhu	13,363	24.34	−8.52
	New Democratic	Gugni Gill Panaich	12,985	23.65	+4.69
	Green	Sayyeda Ebrahim	1,504	2.74	−0.52
	Libertarian	Luis Chacin	878	1.60	–
	Family Coalition	Dan Sullivan	800	1.46	–
	Freedom	Ted Harlson	540	0.98	−0.18
Total valid votes			54,902	100.0
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots			952	1.70
Turnout			55,854
Eligible voters			131,434
	Liberal hold		Swing		+5.03
Source:Elections Ontario^[16]

v t e 2007 Ontario general election: Brampton West
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Vic Dhillon	20,730	46.2
	Progressive Conservative	Mark Beckles	15,111	33.7
	New Democratic	Garth Bobb	4,893	10.9
	Green	Sanjeev Goel	3,472	7.7	–
	Family Coalition	Norah Madden	487	1.1	–
	Independent	Gurdial Singh Fiji	191	0.4
Total valid votes
Rejected, unmarked and declined ballots
Turnout			44,884	44.4
Electors on the lists

v t e 2003 Ontario general election: Brampton West—Mississauga
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Vic Dhillon	28,926	46.18	$84,782.33
	Progressive Conservative	Tony Clement	26,414	42.17	$108,691.97
	New Democratic	Chris Moise	5,103	8.15	$7,336.30
	Family Coalition	Paul Micelli	1,122	1.79	no report filed
	Green	Paul Simas	811	1.29	$1,000.06
	Freedom	John G. Purdy	266	0.42	$0.00
Total valid votes			62,642	100.00
Rejected, unmarked and declined ballots			555
Turnout			63,197	50.84
Electors on the lists			124,317

v t e 1999 Ontario general election: Brampton West—Mississauga
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Progressive Conservative	Tony Clement	24,909	55.87	$71,283.13
	Liberal	Vic Dhillon	16,599	37.23	$70,662.58
	New Democratic	John Devries	2,824	6.33	$7,000.00
	Natural Law	Mei Sze Viau	252	0.57	$0.00
Total valid votes			44,584	100.00
Rejected, unmarked and declined ballots			501
Turnout			45,085	51.23
Electors on the lists			88,003

References

1. Williams, Natalia (26 May 1999). "Bill Davis country hit by aggressive campaigning". Toronto Star. p. 1.
2. Mitchell, Bob (23 December 2003). "Rookie MPP is ready to work 24/7". Toronto Star. p. B3.
3. "Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate". Elections Ontario. 3 June 1999. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
4. "Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate". Elections Ontario. 2 October 2003. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
5. (PDF). Elections Ontario. October 10, 2007. p. 2 (xi). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 7, 2009. Retrieved March 2, 2014.
6. (PDF). Elections Ontario. October 6, 2011. p. 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 30, 2013. Retrieved March 2, 2014.
7. "General Election by District: Brampton West". Elections Ontario. 12 June 2014.
8. Sossi, Dino (29 December 2004). "Too many cooks save the broth". Toronto Star. p. B2.
9. "Premier McGuinty shuffles parliamentary assistants". Canada NewsWire. 20 September 2006.
10. "Kennedy team discloses list of MPP supporters". Toronto Star. 22 June 2006. p. A2.
11. Daly, Rita (8 December 2006). "MPPs target 'temp' boom". Toronto Star. p. A1.
12. "License 'temp' agencies". Toronto Star. 11 December 2006. p. A18.
13. "Premier Kicks Off Business Mission To India". Canada NewsWire. 14 January 2007.
14. "Ontario election 2018: Brampton West riding". Global News. 30 May 2018. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
15. (PDF). Elections Ontario. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 December 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
16. Elections Ontario (17 June 2014). "Official return from the records, 008 Brampton West" (PDF). Retrieved 27 June 2015.^{[permanent dead link]}

External links

• Ontario Legislative Assembly parliamentary history