Deepak Obhrai

Deepak Obhrai
Member of Parliament for Calgary East
Incumbent
Assumed office 1997
Preceded by	Alex Kindy
Personal details
Born	July 5, 1950 (1950-07-05) (age 61) Oldeani, Tanzania
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Neena Obhrai
Residence	Calgary
Profession	accountant, businessman
Religion	Hindu
Website	Official website

Deepak Obhrai (born July 5, 1950 in Oldeani, Tanzania) is a Canadian politician, representing the riding of Calgary East for the Conservative Party of Canada. He is currently serving as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.^[1]

He was first elected in 1997 for the Reform Party of Canada, and was re-elected when the Reform Party became the Canadian Alliance in 2000. In 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2011 he was elected as a member of the Conservative Party of Canada. He was also one of four Alliance MPs who agreed to sit with the Progressive Conservative caucus after the December 9, 2003 creation of the merged Conservative Party. The Progressive Conservative and Canadian Alliance parliamentary caucuses were not officially merged until a few weeks later.

As an opposition member he served as the Opposition critic for International Cooperation, Multiculturalism, International Trade and of CIDA.

Controversy

Obhrai attracted local and national criticism during the 2011 Canadian Federal Election for refusing to appear in an all-candidates debate in his riding, citing that he "does not wish to debate a Liberal from Toronto," a reference to Calgary East Liberal candidate Josipa Petrunic, who is in fact a born and raised Calgarian.^[2][3] The controversy was accentuated by the fact that Obhrai himself has not lived in the riding since winning the then Reform party nomination in 1997, as his primary residence is actually in the federal riding of Calgary Northeast.^[4]

Obhrai has gained notoriety in the Conservative caucus for his eccentricity.^[5] Following his victory in the 2011 Election, he discovered that as a result of Gurbax Singh Malhi's defeat in Bramalea—Gore—Malton, he was now the longest serving remaining member of parliament who was of South Asian and/or African ancestry.^[6] To this effect, he penned a bizarre letter to the editor to the Calgary Herald in which he boasted about being the "most senior South Asian and African member of Parliament", despite having never held office in India or Africa. Obhrai went on to proclaim that: "In my birth country, Tanzania, I would henceforth be referred to by the respectful title of Mzee. In South Asia, I would receive the title of Pradhaan. This means I have now reached the ranks of respected elders.".^[7] To wind it up, Obhrai gleefully exclaimed that, despite his senior status, "I still look young!".^[8]

Electoral results

Canadian federal election, 2011
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Deepak Obhrai	23,372	67.43%	+0.96%
	New Democrat	Al Brown	4,894	14.12%	+2.37%
	Liberal	Josipa Petrunic	4,102	11.83%	+1.68%
	Green	Scott Milton	2,047	5.91%	-4.70%
	Communist	Jason Devine	246	0.71%	-0.30%
Total valid votes/Expense limit			34,661	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout				%

Canadian federal election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Deepak Obhrai	21,311	66.47%	-0.63%	$77,330
	New Democrat	Ian Vaughan	3,768	11.75%	+0.88%	$831
	Green	Nathan Coates	3,403	10.61%	+3.20%	$2,722
	Liberal	Bernie Kennedy	3,255	10.15%	-2.95%	$6,934
	Communist	Jason Devine	323	1.01%	+0.41%	$417
Total valid votes/Expense limit			32,060	100.00%		$83,826
Total rejected ballots
Turnout				%
	Conservative hold		Swing	-0.8

Canadian federal election, 2006
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Deepak Obhrai	26,766	67.10%	+5.99%	$79,928
	Liberal	Dobie To	5,410	13.56%	-7.71%
	New Democrat	Patrick Arnell	4,338	10.87%	+1.01%	$2,762
	Green	J. Mark Taylor	2,955	7.41%	+0.36%	$1,910
	Communist	Jason Devine	239	0.60%	-0.08%	$279
	Canadian Action	Ghazanfar Khan	183	0.46%		$99
Total valid votes			39,890	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			181	0.45%
Turnout			40,071	50.45%

Canadian federal election, 2004
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Deepak Obhrai	21,897	61.11%	-9.61%	$55,864
	Liberal	James Maxim	7,621	21.27%	+0.81%	$50,725
	New Democrat	Elizabeth Thomas	3,535	9.86%	+5.55%	$5,211
	Green	Dean Kenneth Christie	2,529	7.05%		$1,526
	Communist	Jason Devine	245	0.68%	+0.14%	$750
Total valid votes			35,827	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			207	0.57%
Turnout			36,034	47.79%

Note: Conservative vote is compared to total of Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative vote in 2000.

Canadian federal election, 2000
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Canadian Alliance	Deepak Obhrai	18,141	54.25%	+9.27%	$50,082
	Liberal	Doug Perras	6,843	20.46%	-2.34%	$13,817
	Progressive Conservative	Roger Richard	5,510	16.47%	-8.15%	$26,576
	New Democrat	Kaie Jones	1,444	4.31%	-2.18%	$4,528
	Marijuana	Grant Adam Krieger	1,222	3.65%		$1,331
	Communist	Jason Devine	152	0.54%		$415
	Natural Law	Neeraj Varma	124	0.37%	-0.73%
Total valid votes			33,436	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			118	0.35%
Turnout			33,554	48.19%

Note: Canadian Alliance vote is compared to Reform vote in 1997.

Canadian federal election, 1997
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Reform	Deepak Obhrai	13,348	44.98%		$47,624
	Progressive Conservative	Roger Richard	7,306	24.62%	-34.23%	$40,312
	Liberal	Nagah Hage	6,766	22.80%	-0.77%	$20,633
	New Democrat	Kaie Jones	1,926	6.49%	-7.19%	$6,993
	Natural Law	Santo Esposito	329	1.10%
Total valid votes			29,675	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			175	0.59%
Turnout			29,850	47.88%

References

1. ^ Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada Website.
2. ^ Obhrai criticized as Tory incumbents avoid Calgary election debates.
3. ^ Cone of silence tightens on Tories
4. ^ Whitepages
5. ^ Deepak Obhrai, the peacock of South Asian MPs
6. ^ Ibid
7. ^ Deepak the elder
8. ^ Ibid

External links

• Deepak Obhrai's Member of Parliament Profile
• Deepak Obhrai’s voting record
• Deepak Obhrai

Persondata
Name	Obhrai, Deepak
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	July 5, 1950
Place of birth	Oldeani, Tanzania
Date of death
Place of death