Angry in the Great White North
Prominent Sikh Liberal resigns over Stephane Dion's position on anti-terror bill
Thursday, February 22, 2007 at 04:47 PM

Read other posts by Steve Janke published by the National Post

Leader

Stephane Dion is attempting to face down a growing revolt over his insistence that two provisions in the anti-terror bill designed by Jean Chretien's government be allowed to lapse. Not only are his MPs grumbling, Liberals outside of the caucus are upset.

I have just received a copy of a letter from Sarwan Singh Randhawa, a prominent Sikh community member and member of the Liberal Party, resigning his membership with the party over this issue.


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A little bit about Mr Randhawa. He is a long-time general secretary of the Khalsa Diwan Society, which operates Vancouver’s Ross Street Temple, one of the most well-known Sikh gurdwaras in Canada. He served on the B.C. Human Rights Advisory Council. He is a respected leader in Vancouver’s South Asian community.

Former Liberal cabinet minister Ujjal Dosanjh called him one of a group of prominent British Columbians in the BC legislature.

Like many in the community touched by the Air India terror attack, he wants answers:

Gupta's demand for a probe into the RCMP and CSIS investigation of the case was echoed by other members of the Indo-Canadian community.

"There are no answers for the relatives of the people who lost their lives, or for the Canadian people," said Sarwan Singh Randhawa of the Khalsa Diwan Society.

"They don't know who did it...Who is behind this horrible crime?"

Stephane Dion's insistence that the anti-terror provisions be allowed to lapse will make getting those answers almost impossible now.

That has motivated Mr Randhawa to resign:

sarwan2.jpg

Yet again, Stephane Dion is a source of tension and division within his own party. Not the sort of thing that makes for a great leader, or even a mediocre one.

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