Deepak Obhrai

The Honourable Deepak Obhrai PC MP
Official Opposition Critic for International Development
Incumbent
Assumed office 20 November 2015
Leader	Rona Ambrose
Preceded by	Hélène Laverdière
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Calgary Forest Lawn Calgary East (1997-2015)
Incumbent
Assumed office June 2, 1997
Preceded by	Alex Kindy
Personal details
Born	(1950-07-05) July 5, 1950 Oldeani, Tanzania
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Neena Obhrai
Residence	Calgary, Alberta
Profession	dry cleaner, businessman
Religion	Hindu
Website	www.deepakobhrai.com

Deepak Obhrai, PC, MP (born July 5, 1950) is a Canadian politician, representing the riding of Calgary Forest Lawn for the Conservative Party of Canada. He formerly served as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He, along with Gerry Ritz and Jason Kenney are currently the longest continuously-serving Conservative MPs.

Born in Oldeani, Tanganyika, now Tanzania, 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, 2011, and 2015 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.

In January 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed Obhrai as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. In March 2008, he was given the additional responsibility of Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Cooperation and in September 2013 he was given the responsibility of Parliamentary Secretary for International Human Rights.

On September 19, 2013, Obhrai was appointed to the Queen's Privy Council for Canada by Governor General of Canada David Johnston on the advice of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

In September 2014, Obhrai received the Pride of India Award from the Indo-American Friends Group of Washington DC and the Indo-American Business Chamber in a dinner ceremony held on Capitol Hill for his contributions towards strengthening Canada’s political, social and cultural relations with India and for his role in increasing Indian diaspora participation in pluralistic political activity.

Deepak is the longest-serving Conservative MP in Canada’s 42nd Parliament. Currently, he serves as the International Development Critic in the Shadow Cabinet of the Official Opposition.

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. 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.

Obhrai has gained notoriety in the Conservative caucus for his eccentricity. 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. To this effect, he penned a 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.". To wind it up, Obhrai gleefully exclaimed that, despite his senior status, "I still look young!".

Electoral results

Canadian federal election, 2015: Calgary Forest Lawn
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Deepak Obhrai	19,694	47.98	–15.37	–
	Liberal	Cam Stewart	14,762	35.96	+18.50	–
	New Democratic	Adbou Souraya	4,006	9.76	–3.39	–
	Green	Judson Hansell	1,229	2.99	–2.31	–
	Libertarian	Matt Badura	832	2.03	–	–
	Communist	Jason Devine	390	0.95	–	–
	Democratic Advancement	Max Veress	134	0.33	–	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			41,047	100.00		$206,437.77
Total rejected ballots			345	0.83	–
Turnout			41,392	55.47	–
Eligible voters			74,620
	Conservative hold		Swing		–16.93
Source: Elections Canada

Canadian federal election, 2011: Calgary East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Deepak Obhrai	23,372	67.43%	+0.96%
	New Democratic	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: Calgary East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Deepak Obhrai	21,311	66.47%	-0.63%	$77,330
	New Democratic	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: Calgary East
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 Democratic	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: Calgary East
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 Democratic	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: Calgary East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%	Expenditures
	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 Democratic	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: Calgary East
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 Democratic	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%

External links

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