Jas Johal is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

politician and media personality. He served as

Member of the Legislative Assembly A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several nation ...

(MLA) of

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

for the

electoral district An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

of Richmond-Queensborough in the 41st Parliament of British Columbia (2017-2020), as part of the

British Columbia Liberal Party BC United (BCU), known from 1903 until 2023 as the British Columbia Liberal Party or BC Liberals, is a provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party has been described as conservative, neoliberal, and occupying a centre-right ...

caucus.

Early life and career

Born in

Jalandhar Jalandhar () is a city in the state of Punjab, India, Punjab in India. With a considerable population, it ranks as the List of cities in Punjab and Chandigarh by population, third most-populous city in the state and is the largest city in the ...

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, Johal moved to British Columbia at the age of two with his family, growing up in the interior city of Williams Lake before resettling in

Greater Vancouver Greater Vancouver, also known as Metro Vancouver, is the metropolitan area with its major urban centre being the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The term ''Greater Vancouver'' describes an area that is roughly coterminous with the r ...

. After graduating from the

British Columbia Institute of Technology The British Columbia Institute of Technology (also referred to as BCIT), is a public polytechnic institute in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. The technical institute has five campuses located in the Metro Vancouver region, with its main cam ...

with a diploma in communications, he began his broadcasting career at

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

radio station

CKNW CKNW (730 AM) is a commercial radio station in Vancouver, British Columbia. Owned by Corus Entertainment, it broadcasts a talk radio format. Its offices and studios are in the TD Tower in Downtown Vancouver. CKNW is powered at 50,000 watts, ...

AM980 in 1991, then joined BCTV (now Global BC) in 1994, eventually becoming a senior reporter with the station. He moved over to Global's national news division in 2005 as its BC correspondent, then became the network's Asia bureau chief in 2008, based in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

and

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

. After leaving Global in 2014, he served as director of communications for the BC LNG Alliance, a trade group for the province's

liquefied natural gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volume o ...

export industry, until 2016.

Politics

He was approached by the

to contest the new riding of Richmond-Queensborough in the 2017 provincial election, in which he defeated

British Columbia New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party of British Columbia (BC NDP) is a social democratic political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum and is one of the two major parties in British Columbia; since ...

(NDP) candidate Aman Singh by 134 votes to become the riding's MLA."BC Liberals win minority government: What you missed on election night"
''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'', May 10, 2017. On June 12, 2017, he was named the Minister of Technology, Innovation and Citizens' Services, serving in that role for just over a month until the new NDP government was sworn in following the defeat of the Liberal

minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in ...

in a

non-confidence motion A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fit ...

. For the remainder of the 41st Parliament, Johal served as the Official Opposition critic for Economic Development, Competitiveness, Trade and Technology. He sponsored one private member bill, the ''Reducing Waste Act'
(Bill M-206)
, on March 14, 2018, which sought to prohibit the retail sale of single-use beverage pods unless they were fully compostable. Johal faced Aman Singh once again in the 2020 provincial election, this time losing by 1,678 votes. Following his defeat, he rejoined CKNW as host of ''The Jas Johal Show'' in August 2021.

Electoral record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johal, Jas Living people BC United MLAs Canadian television reporters and correspondents Canadian talk radio hosts Members of the Executive Council of British Columbia People from Richmond, British Columbia Global Television Network people Year of birth missing (living people) Canadian people of Indian descent Canadian people of Punjabi descent British Columbia Institute of Technology alumni 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia