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Bal Gosal

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The Honourable
Baljit Singh Gosal
PC
Minister of State for Sport
In office
May 18, 2011 – November 4, 2015
Prime MinisterStephen Harper
Preceded byGary Lunn
Succeeded byCarla Qualtrough
Member of Parliament
for Bramalea—Gore—Malton
In office
May 2, 2011 – August 4, 2015
Preceded byGurbax Singh Malhi
Succeeded byRiding Abolished
Personal details
Born
Baljit Singh Gosal

(1960-05-04) May 4, 1960 (age 64)
Ratenda, Punjab, India
Political partyConservative
SpousePawanjit Gosal
ProfessionInsurance broker

Baljit Singh Gosal PC (born May 4, 1960) is a Canadian politician who served as the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for the electoral district of Bramalea—Gore—Malton from 2011 until 2015. He served as Minister of State (Sport) in the cabinet of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.[1] Gosal was one of five visible minorities serving in the Harper cabinet. He was defeated by Liberal candidate Ramesh Sangha in the 2015 election.

Early life

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Baljit Singh Gosal was born on May 4, 1960 in Ratainda, in the Nawanshahr District of Punjab, India into a Jatt Sikh family. Gosal immigrated to Canada in 1981 settling in Northern British Columbia.[2] Soon after, he moved to Brampton with his wife, Pawanjit.[2] His formal education includes a Bachelor of Science degree from DAV College Jalandhar in 1981 and a Stationary Engineer 4th class Certificate. Gosal began working in the financial sector first in 1984 for McDonnell Douglas Canada and later in 1994 for Prudential Insurance, which later became London Life. He started working in the Property and Casualty Insurance by joining Holman Insurance Brokers Ltd. and then later in 2004 Gosal joined Goodison Insurance and Financial Services and in 2008 he joined Rai Grant insurance brokers where he worked as an insurance broker and a financial security advisor.[2]

An active member of the Brampton community, Gosal had been a member of the Peel Regional Police Services Board, Peel Children's Aid Society and on the Brampton Board of Trade Marketing Committee.[3] He also has coached and organized amateur soccer and volunteered at the YMCA.[2] Gosal served as the Treasurer and founding member of the Ontario Federation of Sports and Cultural Organization, and as the Director, past Secretary, and Treasurer of the Ontario Khalsa Darbar Sports and Cultural Centre.[2] He and his wife have three children.[4]

Politics

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In the 2003 provincial election, Gosal unsuccessfully ran for the PC party in Etobicoke North.

In the 2006 federal election, Gosal ran unsuccessfully for the Conservatives in Brampton West.

In the 2011 federal election, Gosal defeated long-time Liberal MP Gurbax Singh Malhi and future NDP leader Jagmeet Singh in a close three-way race.[5]

As Minister of State for Sport, Gosal was the Minister responsible for Canada at the 2012 summer Olympics in London and lead the Canadian delegation to the 2014 Sochi winter Olympics. On June 29, 2012, Gosal announced the endorsement of all Canadian provincial ministers responsible for sport of the New Canadian Sport Policy.[6]

According to a social media analysis, Gosal was one of Canada's most active MPs on Twitter.[7]

During the 2015 federal election, one volunteer from Bal Gosal's campaign team were caught on video, destroying campaign signs for opposition candidates, prompting Liberal candidate Ramesh Sangha to file a complaint with Peel Regional Police and Elections Canada.[8] In a written statement, the Gosal campaign stated that it admonished the actions of the videotaped volunteers and had dismissed them from the campaign.[9] Gosal lost re-election.

In 2018, Gosal unsuccessfully ran for Mayor of Brampton.

Electoral record

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Municipal

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2018 Brampton Mayoral Election[10] Vote %
Patrick Brown 46,894 44.43
Linda Jeffrey (X) 42,993 40.73
Baljit Gosal 5,319 5.04
John Sprovieri 5,028 4.76
Wesley Jackson 2,442 2.31
Vinod Kumar Mahesan 1,905 1.80
Mansoor Ameersulthan 972 0.92

Brampton Centre

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2015 Canadian federal election: Brampton Centre
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Liberal Ramesh Sangha 19,277 48.64 +23.29 $120,004.74
Conservative Bal Gosal 13,345 33.67 -12.73 $183,194.43
New Democratic Rosemary Keenan 5,993 15.12 -8.08 $33,702.51
Green Saul Marquand T. Bottcher 844 2.13 -2.32 $144.64
Marxist–Leninist Frank Chilelli 173 0.44 – –
Total valid votes/expense limit 39,632 100.00   $199,305.79
Total rejected ballots 264 0.66 –
Turnout 39,896 61.72 –
Eligible voters 64,640
Liberal notional gain from Conservative Swing +18.01
Source: Elections Canada[11][12]

Bramalea—Gore—Malton

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2011 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Conservative Bal Gosal 19,907 34.44% -2.68% –
New Democratic Jagmeet Singh Dhaliwal 19,368 33.51% +24.49% –
Liberal Gurbax Singh Malhi 16,402 29.40% -15.65% –
Green John Moulton 1,748 3.02% -2.14% –
Marxist–Leninist Frank Chilelli 371 0.64% +0.02%
Total valid votes 57,796 100.00% –
Total rejected ballots – – –
Turnout – – – –

Source: Elections Canada

Brampton West

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2006 Canadian federal election: Brampton West
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Colleen Beaumier 27,988 49.1 +4.7
Conservative Bal Gosal 20,345 35.7 -4.3
New Democratic Jagtar Singh Shergill 6,310 11.1 +0.6
Green Jaipaul Massey-Singh 2,340 4.1 +0.7
Total valid votes 56,983 100.0

=

Etobicoke North

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2003 Ontario general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Shafiq Qaadri 16,727 53.98 +19.95
Progressive Conservative Baljit Gosal 6,978 22.52 -15.75
New Democratic Kuldip Singh Sodhi 3,516 11.35 -12.57
Independent Frank Acri 1,990 6.42
Family Coalition Teresa Ceolin 1,275 4.11 +2.41
Green Mir Kamal 503 1.62
Total valid votes 30,989 100.00

References

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  1. ^ The Ministry - Prime Minister of Canada Archived 2008-10-02 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ a b c d e About- Bal Gosal http://www.balgosal.com/?page_id=2
  3. ^ The Canadian Ministry http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/bio.asp?id=98 Archived 2012-05-23 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ "Canada.ca".
  5. ^ Election 2011: Bramalea—Gore—Malton. The Globe and Mail, May 2, 2011.
  6. ^ Bal Gosal [@BalGosal] (27 June 2012). "Just received endorsement of our New Canadian Sport Policy by the Provincial and Territorial Ministers in Inuvik NWT" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  7. ^ "MPS tweet big, but fall short on 'social'". 7 January 2014.
  8. ^ Fraser, Laura (16 October 2015). "Brampton Liberals file police complaint alleging Conservatives broke signs". CBC News. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
  9. ^ Belgrave, Roger (16 October 2015). "VIDEO: Conservative volunteers booted after election signs toppled". Brampton Guardian. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
  10. ^ "2018 Municipal Election Unofficial Results". Brampton. City of Brampton. 22 October 2018.
  11. ^ Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Brampton Centre, 30 September 2015
  12. ^ Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
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