Political Career
Dhillon first ran for the Ontario legislature in the 1999 provincial election, and losing to high-profile Progressive Conservative cabinet minister Tony Clement in the newly-created provincial constituency of Brampton West—Mississauga. He ran again in the 2003 election, and this time defeated Clement by 2,512 votes. Most political observers considered this to be a significant upset. Strong support from the constituency's Indo-Canadian community was a factor, as was a provincial swing to the Liberals.
Dhillon was 34 years old at the time of his election, and his second child was born during the campaign. He was appointed as parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Government Services on September 20, 2006.
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.
In December 2006, he introduced a private member's bill to protect transient workers from exploitation by hiring agencies. The bill was endorsed by the Toronto Star newspaper the following week.
Dhillon took part in an Ontario government business mission to India in January 2007.
On January 25, 2010, Dhillon was named Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister Responsible for Seniors.
Read more about this topic: Vic Dhillon
Famous quotes containing the words political career, political and/or career:
“He knows nothing and thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“Cant is always rather nauseating; but before we condemn political hypocrisy, let us remember that it is the tribute paid by men of leather to men of God, and that the acting of the part of someone better than oneself may actually commit one to a course of behaviour perceptibly less evil than what would be normal and natural in an avowed cynic.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
“I doubt that I would have taken so many leaps in my own writing or been as clear about my feminist and political commitments if I had not been anointed as early as I was. Some major form of recognition seems to have to mark a woman’s career for her to be able to go out on a limb without having her credentials questioned.”
—Ruth Behar (b. 1956)