Murad Velshi

Murad Velshi
MPP for Don Mills
In office 1987–1990
Preceded by	Dennis Timbrell
Succeeded by	Margery Ward
Personal details
Born	April 4, 1935 (1935-04-04) (age 76) Pretoria, South Africa
Political party	Liberal
Occupation	Baker, businessman

Murad Velshi (born April 4, 1935) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He is an Indian Muslim who lived in Kenya and migrated to Canada. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1987 to 1990.^[1]

Background

Velshi was a master baker and businessman before entering political life. He owned and operated a bakery, a pickle manufacturing plant and other retail businesses in Pretoria, and was the owner of a real-estate company in Kenya. After moving to Canada in 1971, he established a chain of travel agencies in Ontario and British Columbia, and served as president of the Flemingdon Health Centre. He played a significant role in assisting Ugandan refugees to Canada following Idi Amin's coup d'état. Velshi has also supported employment equity programs in Canada.

Velshi is an Ismaili Muslim, and was the first Canadian of Indian origin to serve in the Ontario legislature. His forebears are from Gujarat state in India, though Murad and Mila, Ali’s mother, grew up in South Africa. Ali’s great-grandfather was a friend of Mohandas K. Gandhi, who arrived in South Africa in 1893. In 1984, Velshi accused federal Liberal leader John Turner of refusing to field minority candidates in Toronto-area ridings. Later, he provided assistance to the Ismaili community in Afghanistan, during a period of persecution by the Taliban.

His son, Ali Velshi, is senior business correspondent and news anchor for CNN.

Politics

He first ran for the Ontario legislature in the 1981 provincial election, and finished a distant second in the riding of Don Mills against Progressive Conservative incumbent Dennis Timbrell. He ran for Don Mills again in the 1987 election after Timbrell's retirement, and defeated his closest opponent by more than 2,000 votes. He served for a year as parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Citizenship.

The Liberals were defeated in the 1990 provincial election, and Velshi lost his seat to Margery Ward of the New Democratic Party by 1,004 votes. He attempted to regain the seat in a by-election held on April 1, 1993, but finished a weak second against Progressive Conservative candidates David Johnson. He has not sought a return to the legislature since this time.

References

1. ^ "CBC - Ontario Votes 2003 - Ridings". CBC. 2 October 2003. http://www.cbc.ca/ontariovotes2003/riding/003/. Retrieved 1 April 2010. 

External links

• Legislative Assembly of Ontario biography

Persondata
Name	Velshi, Murad
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1935-04-04
Place of birth	Pretoria, South Africa
Date of death
Place of death