Quick Facts
Biography
Darshan Singh Kang (born 1951) is a Canadian politician, currently sitting as an Independent in the Canadian House of Commons representing Calgary Skyview. He previously sat as a member of the Liberal Party of Canada caucus. Prior to his election to Parliament, he served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Calgary-McCall from 2008 to 2015, representing the Alberta Liberal Party.
Before entering politics, he was a welder and a real estate agent.
Political career
Provincial politics
Kang ran for office for the first time in Calgary-McCall in the 2004 Alberta general election. He was defeated in a closely contested race by incumbent Progressive Conservative MLA Shiraz Shariff.
Kang won his second bid for office in the 2008 Alberta general election. The election was a virtual rematch of 2004, with all of the same candidates running. Kang defeated Shariff by 98 votes, after returns in the advanced polls showed he had won overwhelming victories. Kang's numbers increased upon the official recount to 118 votes. Shiraz Shariff challenged the vote in court, claiming that the results of the advanced polling and special ballots was tainted, but the challenge was unsuccessful.
In the 2012 provincial election, Kang was initially declared to have been defeated by Wildrose candidate Grant Galpin, but was later declared re-elected after all polling stations, special ballots and advance polls were counted. He declined to run in the 2015 provincial election in order to run for federal office.
Federal politics
In June 2014, Kang was acclaimed as the Liberal Party's candidate for the riding of Calgary Skyview in the 2015 federal election. The riding had previously been Calgary Northeast, represented by sitting Conservative Devinder Shory.
Kang ultimately won, narrowly defeating Shory. He and Kent Hehr are the first federal Liberals elected from Calgary since Pat Mahoney in 1968.
On August 11, 2017, The Hill Times reported that Kang was being investigated by the House of Commons Chief Human Resources Officer for sexual harassment following allegations made by a female staff member in his Calgary constituency office. The father of the woman, when he outlined the allegations in an interview with the Toronto Star, also claimed that Kang offered her a series of payments to not share details of the alleged harassment. On August 31, 2017 Kang resigned from the Liberal caucus stating he wanted to "focus [his] efforts... on clearing [his] name" and did not want the allegations to be a distraction to his caucus colleagues.
Electoral record
2015 federal election
| Canadian federal election, 2015: Calgary Skyview | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Darshan Singh Kang | 20,664 | – | – | – | |||
| Conservative | Devinder Shory | 17,885 | – | – | – | |||
| New Democratic | Sahajvir Singh | 3,605 | – | – | – | |||
| Progressive Canadian | Najeeb Butt | 957 | – | – | – | |||
| Green | Ed Reddy | 851 | – | – | – | |||
| Democratic Advancement | Stephen Garvey | 786 | – | – | – | |||
| Independent | Joseph Young | 182 | – | – | – | |||
| Marxist–Leninist | Daniel Blanchard | 88 | – | – | – | |||
| Total valid votes/Expense limit | – | 100.0 | $204,745.54 | |||||
| Total rejected ballots | – | – | – | |||||
| Turnout | – | – | – | |||||
| Eligible voters | 71,741 | |||||||
| Source: Elections Canada | ||||||||
2012 Alberta general election
| Alberta general election, 2012: Calgary-McCall | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |||||
| Liberal | Darshan Kang | 3,865 | 36.69 | |||||
| Wildrose | Grant Galpin | 3,185 | 30.24 | |||||
| Progressive Conservative | Muhammad Rasheed | 3,085 | 29.29 | |||||
| New Democratic | Collette Singh | 227 | 2.15 | |||||
| Evergreen | Heather Brocklesby | 137 | 1.30 | |||||
| Independent | Tanveer Taj | 35 | 0.33 | |||||
| Total | 10,534 | |||||||
| Liberal hold | Swing | -7.59% | ||||||
| http://www.elections.ab.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012PGErpt.pdf | ||||||||
2008 Alberta general election
| Alberta general election, 2008: Calgary-McCall | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Liberal | Darshan Kang | 4,279 | 44.38% | 4.93% | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Shiraz Shariff | 4,161 | 43.16% | -0.44% | ||||
| Wildrose Alliance | Ina Given | 542 | 5.62% | -2.24% | ||||
| Green | Heather Brocklesby | 385 | 3.99% | -0.62% | ||||
| New Democratic | Preet Sihota | 275 | 2.85% | -1.63% | ||||
| 9,642 | ||||||||
| Rejected, Spoiled and Declined | 68 | |||||||
| Eligible electors / turnout | 32,531 | 31.69% | ||||||
| Liberal gain from Progressive Conservative | Swing | 2.69% | ||||||
2004 Alberta general election
| Alberta general election, 2004: Calgary-McCall | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Shiraz Shariff | 3,195 | 43.60% | -26.55% | ||||
| Liberal | Darshan Kang | 2,891 | 39.45% | 17.18% | ||||
| Alberta Alliance | Ina Given | 576 | 7.86% | |||||
| Green | Sean Brocklesby | 338 | 4.61% | |||||
| New Democratic | Preet Sihota | 328 | 4.48% | -0.32% | ||||
| Total | 7,328 | |||||||
| Rejected, spoiled and declined | 86 | |||||||
| Eligible electors / Turnout | 21,831 | 33.96% | ||||||
| Progressive Conservative hold | Swing | -21.87% | ||||||