A politico, activist, doctor and once a beauty queen – former three-time Canadian-Indian MP Ruby Dhalla is kno... Read More

NEW DELHI: A politico, activist, doctor and once a beauty queen – former three-time Canadian-Indian MP Ruby Dhalla is known to wear many hats. It was as a politician though that she found her true calling in 2004 when she won as the Liberal Party candidate Ontario's Brampton-Springdale to enter the House of Commons , the first South Asian woman to achieve the feat.

Meeting her can be an experience for even the most phlegmatic; she is beautiful but also articulate — languid one moment, zippy the next, holding spellbound anybody within earshot. Dhalla is in India right now to form a charity to help victims of fake marriages in India, especially Punjab that has deep ties with Canada.

A Liberal, Dhalla is very much upbeat about the outcome of Canadian PM and Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper's ongoing six-day visit to India. "There is a new momentum to ties with India and Canada negotiating supply of uranium to India and also discussing a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA)," says Dhalla.

The two countries signed a civil nuclear cooperation deal in 2010 to mark a qualitative shift in relations and Dhalla is hopeful that an end-user agreement for supply of uranium will come through soon too. Dhalla says sky is the limit for Indo-Canada ties. "There are a lot of commonalities like both are pluralistic societies, democratic and members of Commonwealth and so the potential for natural synergy between them," she adds.

Apart from CEPA and uranium deal, says Dhalla, PM Harper is also striving for a foreign investment protection agreement between India and Cana. "On this there's a bit of a delay owing to the Vodafone issue but I hope once India analyses all of its agreement it will jump on board," she says. A tax dispute between India and Vodafone has forced India to put on hold negotiations for such an agreement with all countries. She is hopeful that bilateral trade between India and Canada will reach $15 billion soon.

Apart from rights of the immigrants, Dhalla has actively campaigned in Canada for same-sex marriage legislation. She was described by an international magazine as the third sexiest female politician in the world but that's a tag which sits lightly on Dhalla, brought up by a single mother who migrated to Canada 40 years ago. "It is always an honour when people call you beautiful but it is the message which is more important at the end of the day," she says. Dhalla is not particularly fond of cynicism related to politics in India. In a country where more than half the people are below 25, I think it is the time for the youth to step up and seize the moment and change the way India is led," she says.

As a 10-year-old, Dhalla famously wrote to Indira Gandhi against Sikh militancy and wondered what all the talk about separatism was. Does she share concerns about revival of Punjab terrorism from Canada based elements. "I think the perception of this threat can be blown out of proportion at times. There is no tolerance at all for any terror related activity in Canada," she says. Has she ever felt threatened by separatists? "No. I am a proud Sikh but that doesn't mean I have to support terror in any form," she adds.