FEATURE F

At the forefront of ‘the new era’ Yes, she is youthful, but a wealth of experience has positioned Waterloo’s Bardish Chagger to be a politician on top of the times

By John Roe is Chagger who speaks for him and the govern- f you want to meet the face of the new ment in the House of Commons. Liberal Party of Canada, meet Waterloo’s “For the moment, she is the star from this member of Parliament Bardish Chagger. region,” explains Geoffrey Stevens, a seasoned She’s a woman. She’s a Sikh. And she’s the journalist who has been commenting on the Idaughter of immigrants. She’s also young, at 36 comings and goings on Parliament Hill for more years of age, far younger even than her boss, the than half a century and who writes a weekly fresh-faced Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. column for the Waterloo Region Record. And while Trudeau is hands-down the most “She’s the most influential minister from . . . recognizable politician in Canada today, thanks Ontario west of Toronto.” partly to his unrivalled talent for snapping Or, as Luisa D’Amato, another Record selfies, Chagger personifies as much as anyone columnist, gleefully observed: Chagger the reconfigured political brand that swept “is smashing glass ceilings as if they were the Conservatives out of office and vaulted the champagne flutes.” Liberals to power one year ago. Chagger is also, with just over 12 months’ ex- ow did this unpredicted, even unlikely turn perience as an elected official, Waterloo Region’s of events happen? What explains Chagger’s most powerful politician, a cabinet minister Hmeteoric rise? Is it her unflagging energy? but, in addition, the government’s House leader Her infectious optimism? Her unapologetic — the first woman to hold this job. When the idealism or her intense focus on making Canada prime minister leaves Parliament Hill for one of a better place? Or maybe good timing? his frequent domestic or foreign excursions, it We could go back to her first job — working at

Bardish Chagger, Waterloo’s member of Parliament and a cabinet minister in the federal government, takes time out from a long list of local commitments for an interview at Waterloo’s Café 22. PHOTOGRAPHY • ALISHA TOWNSEND

34 GRAND JANUARY I FEBRUARY 2017 JANUARY I FEBRUARY 2017 GRAND 35 Left: Bardish Chagger addresses It was from her father, Gurminder the House of Commons during Chagger — or Gogi, as he’s known to question period in September 2016. friends — that she gained respect for PHOTOGRAPHY • ADRIAN WYLD, government-run institutions such as the THE CANADIAN PRESS public school system, which puts children from all backgrounds on a level playing Below: Tristan Lehari (left), CEO of field and where she learned to be fluent TritonWear, demonstrates a swimming in French. metrics tracker for Bardish Chagger and It was from her father, too, that the UW swim coach Jeff Slater (right). young Chagger received her political PHOTOGRAPHY • MATHEW McCARTHY baptism — and her introduction to the Liberal Party of Canada. She was just 13. It was the game-changing 1993 federal election. Gogi Chagger enthusiastically ments, Chagger is proud to describe her backed the Jean Chrétien Liberals, grateful Waterloo Region roots. Born in Kitchener’s that they had modernized Canada’s St. Mary’s Hospital, she was raised in immigration rules and brought in the Waterloo where she attended public Charter of Rights and Freedoms to afford elementary and secondary schools, then the new protections to minorities. And when University of Waterloo for a science degree. Gogi went out to pound election signs Her family, however, knows what it is like into the ground, Bardish was with him, to be newcomers. Her grandparents and hammering away. father arrived from India in the 1970s to work in a Waterloo carpet factory. hat was, as they say, the start of a Those are the two sides of the Bardish beautiful relationship. At university, Chagger coin — the local and the inter- TChagger ran the Young Liberals national, the grassroots Canadian and the Association and helped line up delegates child of modern multiculturalism. for Paul Martin’s leadership campaign. Chagger grew up in a large, extended After graduating, she started working for household that included her grandparents, Andrew Telegdi, who was then Waterloo’s her parents, a sister and brother, as well Liberal MP. as an aunt and uncle and their three sons, When Chagger was named the federal cousins she refers to as her brothers. It minister for small business and tourism sounds like a warm and lively place, where shortly after the 2015 federal election, old customs were cherished and new ways many observers were shocked. After all, in tested, then embraced. picking his cabinet, Trudeau had both the Yet life in Canada was not always perfect former chief of Toronto’s police depart- for the Chagger clan. At times, the family ment and a retired Canadian armed forces was the target of racist acts, which included general to choose from. They remained on a Tim Hortons at the age of 15 serving the achieve things that have surprised even her. having rocks hurled at their home and the back benches. He chose Chagger. public in what, after Parliament itself, must As for politics, it’s the means to achieving graffiti spray-painted on its walls. But they But to look at the political experience be considered one of the most Canadian ends that serve others. persevered, convinced Canada was their she acquired through years of effort is institutions imaginable. “I never dreamt that I would be elected future and that by becoming politically to understand and appreciate Trudeau’s But let’s introduce you to Chagger herself. and I never dreamt that I would be at a active, they could make this country even choice. Chagger learned how Parlia- Over coffee at Waterloo’s Café 22 on a cabinet table,” she says, “but here we are in better. ment Hill works from her days running sunny November afternoon, she is friendly 2016 and the prime minister has asked me Looking back on the prejudice that once Telegdi’s Ottawa office. From her time in and frank as she talks about what matters to take on additional responsibilities as the confronted her family, Chagger prefers to Telegdi’s office in Waterloo, she discov- to her most — her family, her community government House leader.” note with wonder how much the country ered the importance of meeting the needs and Canada. That’s what has driven her to Modest enough about her accomplish- has changed, and for the better. of constituents.

36 GRAND JANUARY I FEBRUARY 2017 JANUARY I FEBRUARY 2017 GRAND 37 “She took to it like a duck takes to water,” of a sudden we were having conversations Region works and gets things done. Liberals “wanted somebody who would says Telegdi in a separate interview. “She’s a that we weren’t otherwise.” She also became a known and visible be more accommodating to the opposi- natural. She’s got the skills and understands The political process, she says, is “not just commodity. It’s hard for her to walk down tion.” how politics works.” about winning and losing, it’s about what King Street without someone waving at While he thinks Chagger “got lucky in In addition to admiring her work ethic you are contributing and how are you con- her or rushing over to shake her hand. Her terms of timing,” Stevens adds: “She’s well and people skills, Telegdi praises the tributing. So to put your name on a ballot is interview in Café 22 is interrupted briefly liked or she wouldn’t be in the job she’s “progressive voice” of his former assistant. a challenge. … We need to encourage more when a former French teacher spots her, in. And she’s doing it quite well.” “When my staff was against me embracing people to do it.” comes to the table and the two embrace. She is also doing a lot. During the same-sex marriage” in Parliament, “she Before entering another political race, this That kind of recognition helps explain week of her Café 22 interview for Grand was the only one who supported me,” he one the 2015 federal campaign, Chagger why, by the 2015 election, Chagger was magazine, Chagger was back in her says, adding that Chagger also “supported added to her already extensive resumé. She ready for her breakthrough. Both the riding riding with a staggering agenda that the legalization of marijuana” before the served as president of the Kitchener-Water- and country, in return, were ready for included the mundane along with the Liberals made it official party policy. loo Federal Liberal Association. She was a change. She captured the seat with 29,752 sublime. There were visits to elementary “I feel very good to have been able to votes, or 49.7 per cent, beating incumbent school classrooms and a Wilfrid Laurier make her realize her dream and unleash her Conservative MP Peter Braid by more than University gender studies class, appear- talents, which are obviously very many,” 10,000 ballots. ances at the opening of a Costco store and Telegdi says. That victory put Chagger on the first rung Communitech’s annual general meeting, Chagger’s first sojourn in the world of “(Bardish Chagger) of the political ladder. The next step up was as well as a funding announcement at federal politics ended abruptly after Telegdi, her appointment to cabinet which, while University of Waterloo. This was also the whom she considers one of her most is much more than a leaving political commentator Geoffrey week of Remembrance Day. In addition to important political mentors, was voted Stevens “quite amazed,” later struck him as attending ceremonies and events on out of office in the 2008 federal election. token. She’s in a sense making perfect sense. Nov. 11, Chagger participated in the Sikh Chagger moved on to work for the Kitchen- the future of what “She speaks to a demographic very Remembrance Day and later the German er-Waterloo Multicultural Centre. important to Trudeau … to young ethnic Remembrance Day. It was a perfect fit for someone committed this government voters Liberals want to appeal to.” But “she’s While such a schedule leaves few op- to making Canada an inclusive land of op- wants to do. She’s much more than a token,” Stevens quickly portunities for personal pursuits such as portunity, a place where if you work hard, adds. “She’s in a sense the future of what hobbies, she loves walking and spending you can get ahead. part of the new era. ” this government wants to do. She’s part of time with friends. And when she’s Besides organizing the annual Multicul- the new era.” back home in Waterloo, the unmarried POLITICAL COMMENTATOR tural Festival, she also helped run a special GEOFFREY STEVENS Or, to put it another way, with people Chagger continues to live with her conference to enable foreign-trained profes- such as Chagger in the federal cabinet, it beloved extended family. sionals to obtain Canadian credentials and looks more like Canada. “No,” she says when asked if she’s in a meet employers. The right time. The right place. The right personal relationship, then, with a touch Even then, she had her eye on climbing to person. Everything clicked. And recently, of mischievousness adds, “I don’t even a different level where she could do more to with her appointment as government House have a dog anymore.” build the community she envisioned. board member of the Workforce Planning leader, Chagger climbed higher still. In her “My family, yes, is my backbone,” she Council Waterloo Wellington Dufferin, and new role, Chagger oversees the govern- says, pausing, then looking at the people t’s fascinating to wonder what would the theatre group MT Space. ment’s day-to-day business in Parliament sipping coffee around her. “But my family have happened had Chagger been elected In addition, she belonged to the Waterloo and negotiates with the opposition about is way more than a blood connection. Ias a Waterloo Region District School Rotary Club and volunteered with Interfaith bills and debates. There (are) many people that helped Board trustee when she ran for that office Grand River, as well as the Heart and Stroke “She’s not the team captain, she’s the shape the individual I am today, and there in the 2010 municipal election. Would she Foundation. quarterback,” Stevens says of the House (are) many members of my family that have contested a seat in the federal election Jobs like these might seem small stuff leader’s job. “She calls the plays.” don’t look like me. But they are members five years later? We’ll never know because compared to what she’s doing now, Stevens believes the previous Liberal of my family. she lost in 2010. Yet, characteristically for footnotes to what will go down in the House leader, Dominic LeBlanc, was “The people of Waterloo Region … they Chagger, that cloud had a silver lining. political history books. But with each new deemed too confrontational by the prime are my family. They are who I will fight “I can’t say that I was disappointed that I group or organization she belonged to, minister. Chagger was chosen as his for. They are who I represent and they are wasn’t elected because I was proud that all Chagger learned more about how Waterloo replacement, Stevens says, because the the people who I care about.”

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