Jacquie Menezes, the first Goan to run in an Ontario election on the Liberal Party ticket in Oshawa, pooled 6895 to finish second to the long-time encumbent, Jerry J. Ouellette, of the Progessive Conservative Party, who got 16699 votes. Jerry has held this seat for the :PC for a long time and if Jacquie had defeated him it would be nothing short of a miracle. I think Jacquie gave her best shot in entering electoral politics. For a newcomer, it will be a good experience. At least she was on the winning side of the elections. Thanks for the Liberal Party's victory, though it will form a minority government, as it has kept the Conservatives from returning to power. It was also nice to know that one additional Indo-Canadian woman enters the Ontario parliament. She is Dipika Damerla, a former TV journalist.Dipika joins Amrit Mangat, the first Indo-Canada woman to be elected to the Ontario parliament. With the exception of Dr. Kuldip Kullar, of the Liberals, who lost to Jagmeet Singh, both Sikhs, in the Malton-Gore riding, a predominantly Sikh area. Jagmeet won on the New Domocrats Party, with a 2000 plus margin. The South Asian MPPs, which includes Indo-Canadians, who retained their seats were Harinder Thakkar, a minister in the last government, Vic Dhillon, and Dr. Shafiq Quadri. There was fear that the Conservatives would return as the Liberals fumbled on many social and economic issues. But the Ontario citizens seem to be reposed their faith in the Liberals.
Eugene Correia
