Sukhminder "Sukh" Singh Dhaliwal (born October 1, 1960) is a Canadian businessman and politician, who has served as the Liberal Member of Parliament for Surrey—Newton since 2015. He was previously the Member of Parliament for Newton—North Delta from 2006 to 2011.
Early life Dhaliwal was born to a Sikh family in Sujapur, Punjab, India on October 1, 1960. In 1983, he studied civil engineering from Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College in Ludhiana. Dhaliwal immigrated to Canada in 1999 and became a Canadian citizen three years later. As a businessman, he co-founded a land surveying company. He ran for city council in the November 1999 Surrey municipal elections for the Surrey Electors Team alongside its mayoral candidate Doug McCallum, but was not elected.
Political career
Member of Parliament for Newton—North Delta (2004–2011) Dhaliwal was the federal Liberal candidate for the Newton-North Delta riding in 2004, but lost to Conservative Gurmant Grewal by just over 500 votes. Grewal decided to not seek re-election and, in 2006, Dhaliwal faced Conservative newcomer Phil Eidsvik. The NDP was also strong in the riding and 2004 candidate Nancy Clegg also ran again. Dhaliwal succeeded in winning the seat by exactly 1,000 votes.
In the 2006 Liberal leadership campaign, Dhaliwal initially indicated support for Joe Volpe, but soon moved to support Michael Ignatieff. Dhaliwal was instrumental in building support for Ignatieff's campaign in the Sikh community. Dhaliwal played a key role in Ignatieff's short-lived, but successful, second leadership campaign in 2008.
Dhaliwal in 2008 had written to a U.S. District Court judge on official House of Commons stationery in support of convicted international drug trafficker Ranjit Cheema.
On October 14, 2008, Dhaliwal was re-elected to Parliament by nearly 2,500 votes. Following the election, Dhaliwal was elected as the Chair of the Northern and Western Caucus of the Liberal Party, and served as the critic for the Asia Pacific Gateway and Western Economic Diversification Canada.
Dhaliwal has served on several House of Commons Committees: International Trade; Transportation, Infrastructure and Communities; and Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics. The Ethics Committee attracted high-profile attention when it investigated allegations surrounding Karlheinz Schreiber’s dealings with former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.
Dhaliwal lost his seat to Jinny Sims of the New Democratic Party in the 2011 federal election.
Provincial politics Dhaliwal was acclaimed as the candidate for the British Columbia Liberal Party for the 2013 provincial election. However, he later withdrew after he was charged with six counts of tax evasion related to a business he ran with his wife. He pleaded guilty to three of the charges and was fined $3,000.
Member of Parliament for Surrey—Newton (2015–present) In December 2014, Dhaliwal won the Liberal nomination in newly-formed riding of Surrey—Newton ahead of the 2015 election. He defeated NDP incumbent Jinny Sims and won the seat with 56 per cent of the vote.
In 2021, in the Lakhimpur Kheri massacre in India, 8 people died in a vehicle-ramming attack. Shaken by the video of the incident Dhaliwal called it a terror attack no different than London, Ontario truck attack.
In August 2024, Dhaliwal sponsored a petition calling on the government to order a new inquiry into the Air India bombing, a terror act perpetrated by Sikh extremists, which killed 329 people, most of them Canadians. The petition promotes a discredited theory that the Indian government, as opposed to Canadian Sikhs, was responsible for the bombing. Two Canadian public inquires held Sikh extremists responsible for the act, and Talwinder Singh Parmar as the mastermind, in addition the CSIS and RCMP investigated the possibility of Indian government agents provoking the attack, but have since discarded the theory. The petition was drafted by Gurpreet Singh, a freelance journalist based in Surrey. Singh told The Globe and Mail that Dhaliwal's staff helped him draft and edit the petition.
In December 2024, Dhaliwal attempted to introduce a motion in the House of Commons seeking recognition of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in India as a "genocide". Chandra Arya, among other MPs, called out "no" while Dhaliwal was reading the motion, denying it unanimous support. Arya accused Dhaliwal of threatening him on his way out of the Commons chamber after the motion failed.
Dhaliwal endorsed Liberal Party of Canada leadership candidate Mark Carney on January 16, 2025.
He was elected joint chair of the Standing Joint Committee on the Library of Parliament in the 45th Canadian Parliament in 2025.
Electoral record
+2022 Surrey mayoral election Party Mayoral candidate Vote % Surrey Connect Brenda Locke 33,311 28.14 Safe Surrey Coalition Doug McCallum (X) 32,338 27.31 Surrey First Gordie Hogg 24,916 21.05 Surrey Forward Jinny Sims 14,895 12.58 United Surrey Sukh Dhaliwal 9,629 8.13 People's Council Surrey Amrit Birring 2,270 1.92 Independent John Wolanski 646 0.55 Independent Kuldip Pelia 385 0.33
References
External links Sukh Dhaliwal
Vancouver Sun International Drug Trafficker Letter