Parm Gill (born May 17, 1974) is a Canadian politician. He had represented the riding of
Milton in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario between 2018 and 2024.
He was elected to the provincial legislature, representing Milton for the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, in the 2018 provincial election. In 2021, he was elevated to the Cabinet as the Minister for Citizenship and Multiculturalism, and became the Minister of Red Tape Reduction in 2022. In January 2024, he announced his departure from provincial politics to run for the Conservatives in the 45th Canadian federal election.[3]
He moved to Canada at a young age.[citation needed] Before politics, he was an entrepreneur and business executive.[4] He worked on his family's businesses, which include a furniture manufacturing factory and some restaurants that he ran with his older brother.[5]
Political career
According to Gill, he had become involved in federal politics because the thought of Canada legalizing same-sex marriage "pushed him over the edge."[6] In the 2006 federal election, Gill ran in York West, and lost to Liberal MP Judy Sgro by over 15000 votes.[7] In the 2008 federal election, Gill ran in Brampton—Springdale against incumbent Ruby Dhalla, but was narrowly defeated by 773 votes.[5] The election campaign between the two were heated, and during an all-candidates' debate, Dhalla brought up how Gill's brother had been charged with vandalizing her campaign signs in 2006, even though the charges were dropped, and Gill attacked Dhalla for failing to do enough for a boy beaten by police in India after stealing her aide's purse.[8]
After witnessing increased gang activity in his riding, Gill toured Western Canadian cities in December 2011 to speak with police and community organizations to see how this could be stopped.[9] In May 2012, Gill introduced a private members bill, C-394, which made it a crime to target someone for recruitment into a gang.[9][10] It was eventually passed into law in June 2014.[11][12]
In September 2013, Gill was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs.[4] During Rob Ford's drug scandal, Gill was one of the few federal politicians to offer support for the embattled mayor, calling him a "great mayor" who was "doing a wonderful job" in November 2013, and claimed that Torontonians were happy with his record.[13]
In January 2015, Gill was appointed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to the role of a Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade.[14] In May 2015, Gill wrote letters of support to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for two of his constituents' competing applications for a community radio station in Brampton. The Conflict of Interest Act bars parliamentary secretaries from writing such letters to the CRTC and other administrative tribunals, and in October 2013, ethics commissioner Mary Dawson had issued a directive to that effect.[15] The Ethics Commissioner ruled in February 2016 that although he had acted in good faith, Gill had violated the Conflict of Interest Act.[16][17]
In August 2015, the Huffington Post reported that a supporter of Gill's who previously bundled donations to Liberal MP Jim Karygiannis, had switched his allegiance and had induced Liberal supporters into donating to Gill without their consent. In October 2015, a week and a half before voting day, it was reported that the commissioner of Elections Canada launched an investigation into these claims.[20][21]
During the election, Gill criticized the provincial Ontario Liberal Party and Premier Kathleen Wynne's proposed updates to the sexual education curriculum, which had not been changed since 1998. The changes included teaching that homosexuality was acceptable in Grade 3, teaching about puberty in Grade 4 as opposed to Grade 5, and teaching about masturbation and gender expression in Grade 6.[22] Gill described the changes as "graphic and explicit" in a taxpayer-funded mailout which conflated the provincial party's education policies with those of separate federal Liberal party, which has no constitutional jurisdiction in the field. In the mailout, Gill also said that it was part of a Liberal attack on family values and parent's right to control the education of their children.[23] In a 2015 video with the Punjabi Post, Gill described some segments of the new education curriculum as "disgusting."[6]
Party leaders listed first (in bold italics). Government members in bold denotes cabinet. † Party does not have official party status in the Legislature
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