Punjabi is third language in Canada House

Toronto: Four years after Punjabi became Canada's third most common language, it has now attained the same status in the country's new parliament after English and French following the election of 20 Punjabi-speaking candidates to the House of Commons. Twenty-three MPs of South Asian-origin were elected to the House of Commons in October 19 parliamentary polls. Three of them do not speak Punjabi, but 20 others do. Among them, 18 are Liberals and two are Conservatives. PM-designate Justin Trudeau is scheduled to unveil his Cabinet this week and some of these Liberal MPs are expected to be included. “The voice of the Indo-Canadian community will now be very well represented in the parliament,” MP Deepak Obhrai of Conservative Party said.