Toronto: For the first time, Rinku Shah, a Gujarati woman, has been fielded as a candidate of Conservative Party of Canada for Toronto. She is a known name among the Indian community and had migrated from Vadodara to Canada 10 years ago. She has been engaged in community service for over eight years now and was also actively involved in Covid-related work. Rinku was instrumental in providing essentials to more than 10,000 international students, senior citizens and retirement homes during the pandemic. She is Conservative party’s candidate from Humber River -Black Creek, Toronto.
For over eight years now, she has been working for the community and has facilitated several events for the consulate. A mother of a 10-year-old boy, she has also been organising mega community festivals like Taste of India food festival, Ganesh festival, garba festival and kite festival to promote Indian heritage and culture among Indo-Canadian citizens. Rinku is pitted against Judy Sgro, the Liberal Party incumbent.
“Our party’s agenda is to secure the future. It includes the economy, jobs, accountability and mental health. Over a million jobs have been lost in the country during the pandemic and we wish to recover them,” Rinku said. “As the first Gujarati woman to have contested polls, I have an immediate connect with the local population which has a sizable number of Gujaratis. There are many Sikhs in the Canadian parliament but no Gujarati. I am hopeful,” she added.
She moved to Melbourne for higher studies after completing graduation from MS University of Baroda. She then moved to Canada with her husband Vrajesh. The polls are scheduled for September 20.