Darshan Kang
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Darshan Singh Kang (born 1951) is a Canadian politician, who served in the
House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The House of Common ...
representing Calgary Skyview from 2015 until 2019. He previously sat as a member of the
Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada (french: Parti libéral du Canada, region=CA) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' ...
caucus. Prior to his election to Parliament, he served as a Member of the
Legislative Assembly of Alberta The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is the deliberative assembly of the province of Alberta, Canada. It sits in the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton. The Legislative Assembly currently has 87 members, elected first past the post from singl ...
for Calgary-McCall from 2008 to 2015, representing the
Alberta Liberal Party The Alberta Liberal Party (french: Parti libéral de l'Alberta) is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1905, it is the oldest active political party in Alberta and was the dominant political party until the 1921 election ...
. Before entering politics, he was a welder and a real estate agent.


Political career


Provincial politics

Kang ran for office for the first time in Calgary-McCall in the
2004 Alberta general election The 2004 Alberta general election was held on November 22, 2004 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The election was called on October 25, 2004. Premier Ralph Klein decided to go to the polls earlier than the legislated dead ...
. He was defeated in a closely contested race by incumbent Progressive Conservative MLA Shiraz Shariff. Kang won his second bid for office in the
2008 Alberta general election The 2008 Alberta general election was held on March 3, 2008, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. It was expected to be called early because the governing Progressive Conservatives held a leadership election on December 2, 20 ...
. The election was a virtual rematch of 2004, with all of the same candidates running. Kang defeated Shariff by 98 votes, after returns in the advanced polls showed he had won overwhelming victories. Kang's numbers increased upon the official recount to 118 votes. Shiraz Shariff challenged the vote in court, claiming that the results of the advanced polling and special ballots was tainted, but the challenge was unsuccessful. In the 2012 provincial election, Kang was initially declared to have been defeated by Wildrose candidate Grant Galpin, but was later declared re-elected after all polling stations, special ballots and advance polls were counted. He declined to run in the 2015 provincial election in order to run for federal office.


Federal politics

In June 2014, Kang was acclaimed as the Liberal Party's candidate for the riding of Calgary Skyview in the 2015 federal election. The riding had previously been
Calgary Northeast Calgary Northeast was a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 to 2015. It is an urban riding in the city of Calgary. History This riding was created in 1987 from Calgary ...
, represented by sitting Conservative
Devinder Shory Devinder Shory (born 3 August 1958 in Barnala, Punjab, India) is a Canadian politician, who represented the electoral district of Calgary Northeast as a federal Member of Parliament from 2008 to 2015.Kent Hehr Kent Hehr (born December 16, 1969) is a Canadian politician from Alberta. He was elected as the Liberal Member of Parliament for the riding of Calgary Centre in the 2015 federal election. Hehr was named Minister of Veterans Affairs in the ...
of
Calgary Centre Calgary Centre (french: Calgary-Centre; formerly known as Calgary South Centre) is a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1968. The riding consists of many young adul ...
were the first federal Liberals elected from Calgary since
Pat Mahoney Patrick Morgan (Pat) Mahoney, (January 20, 1929 – June 8, 2012) was a Canadian judge, politician, lawyer and businessman. Mahoney was first elected to parliament in the 1968 election as the Liberal Member of Parliament for Calgary Sou ...
in
1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Januar ...
, and only the fifth and sixth Liberals elected from Calgary ridings in the party's entire history.


Sexual harassment allegations

On August 11, 2017, '' The Hill Times'' reported that Kang was being investigated by the House of Commons Chief Human Resources Officer for sexual harassment following allegations made by a female staff member in his Calgary constituency office. Pablo Rodríguez, the Liberal government whip, had referred the matter to the Chief Human Resources Officer after learning of the allegations. On August 29, 2017, the ''
Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...
'' reported that the father of the woman claimed that Kang offered her a series of payments to not share details of the alleged harassment. On the same day, Kang took medical leave, citing the stress that resulted from the harassment allegation. On August 31, 2017, ''The Hill Times'' reported allegations by another constituency officer staffer of Kang's that he had kissed and grabbed her breasts without consent and had ignored her saying "no" and "stop". These allegations stemmed from Kang's time in the Albertan legislature. The same day, Kang resigned from the Liberal caucus saying that he wanted to focus on clearing his name and that he did not want the allegations to disrupt caucus work. In September 2017, David Khan, the leader of the Alberta Liberal Party announced that would investigate Kang's actions during his time as MLA. In March 2018, the report concluded that Kang's actions towards his former staffer violated the House of Commons's harassment rules. It found that most of her allegations were substantiated, including that Kang had misled her into entering his Ottawa apartment, where he touched her hands and tried to remove her jacket and massage her feet. It also found that Kang had later repeatedly attempted to enter her hotel room over her objections. Although the report found that Kang was unaware that his behaviour caused his former staffer discomfort, he should have known that his behaviour was offensive and unwelcome. The report was unable to substantiate the female staffer's claim that Kang had offered her money to stay silent because it was unclear who exactly had made the offer. After the report was released, Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...
announced that Kang would not be welcomed back as a Liberal MP. In the same month, the Alberta Liberal Party released new workplace policies that included a revamped complaints process and stricter policies to fight harassment in response to its investigation into Kang. Kang appealed the findings of the report to a legal panel, arguing that the investigation was unfair and the investigator was biased. On August 8, 2018, the panel accepted the investigation's report "without revision" and rejected Kang's appeal.


Electoral record


2015 federal election


2012 Alberta general election


2008 Alberta general election


2004 Alberta general election


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kang, Darshan 1951 births Alberta Liberal Party MLAs Businesspeople from Calgary Canadian politicians of Punjabi descent Canadian real estate agents Canadian Sikhs Independent MPs in the Canadian House of Commons Indian emigrants to Canada Liberal Party of Canada MPs Living people Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Alberta Politicians from Calgary Punjabi people 21st-century Canadian politicians