Herb Dhaliwal

Harbance Singh (Herb) Dhaliwal, PC (born 12 December 1952) is a Canadian politician and businessman.

He was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1993 election as the Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for Vancouver South.

Prime Minister Jean Chrétien recommended Dhaliwal's appointment to Cabinet (the first Indian-Canadian to become a federal cabinet minister) in 1997 as Minister of Revenue. In 1999, he became Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, and in 2002 he was appointed Minister of Natural Resources and Minister with political responsibility for British Columbia.

Dhaliwal was a firm supporter of Chrétien against Paul Martin's attempt to force the Liberal leader to retire. As a result, Martin's campaign team targeted Dhaliwal and successfully took over his riding association. Dhaliwal publicly denounced Martin's campaign team for this and criticized them for restricting access to Liberal Party membership forms. When Chrétien announced his resignation, Dhaliwal briefly considered running in the 2003 Liberal leadership campaign, but decided against it. Several months later, he endorsed Martin for leader and said he would be willing to serve in a Martin cabinet. However, on 3 December 2003, he announced that he would not be running for re-election.

Business After graduating from the University of British Columbia with a Bachelor of Commerce degree, he started a maintenance company out of his basement. He is a top level executive of Dynamic Facility Services Ltd. He became a self-made millionaire with diversified business interests including transportation, maintenance and real estate development.

Dhaliwal is chairman of National Green Biomed Ltd., a medical marijuana producer that donated $1 million in 2015 for health research into medical cannabis at the University of British Columbia. He spoke about decriminalization of cannabis by the Justin Trudeau federal government.

Return to politics In September 2024, Dhaliwal attempted to register a new provincial political party named the "New Liberal Party of BC", in order to replace BC United, which suspended its campaign in the month prior, as a centrist option for voters, according to himself. Yet, Elections BC refused the name of the new political party, citing confusion as a reason.

Personal life Born in India at Chaheru, Distt. Kapurthala Punjab in 1952, Dhaliwal's family emigrated to Vancouver when he was six. He attended John Oliver Secondary School, graduating in 1972.

Dhaliwal is married to Amrit Kaur. He has two daughters and a son.

Election results