Conservative Party of Canada finance critic MP Jasraj Singh Hallan grew up in Calgary Forest Lawn and now represents the riding in the House of Commons.Dave Chan/The Globe and Mail
Once an at-risk youth who was involved in Calgary street gangs, the story of Jasraj Singh Hallan, the Conservative Party’s new finance critic, is one of redemption and opportunity.
Born in Dubai, Mr. Hallan and his family immigrated to Western Canada when he was five years old.
He grew up in Calgary Forest Lawn – the riding he now represents in the House of Commons. But a career in politics could not have been imagined in those early years.
He candidly acknowledges that he was on the wrong path.
“When you’re growing up with financial insecurity, it’s much easier to fall into those traps,” he said in an interview. It is not a period of his life that he normally discusses in detail.
“It’s very personal to me,” he said. “Still, there’s a little bit of trauma that I go through thinking about the stuff that happened. But you know, in general, anyone that goes through gangs, there’s fighting that happens, there’s activities that you’re not always proud of.”
He credits a community volunteer – Manmeet Bhullar – with helping to turn his own life around. Just four years older, Mr. Bhullar was deeply involved in various programs aimed at helping Calgary youth. Through Mr. Bhullar, Mr. Hallan said he rediscovered his Sikh faith and its core concept of seva, or selfless service.
Before long, Mr. Hallan graduated with an accounting diploma from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. He quickly became a manager and co-owner of a home-building business in Calgary. Inspired by Mr. Bhullar, he also got involved in organizing youth sports and other after-school activities.
“I was able to use my experiences to help mentor others,” said Mr. Hallan, now 37. He is married and the father of two young girls.
His own mentor, Mr. Bhullar, entered provincial politics and became an Alberta cabinet minister. He died tragically in November, 2015, at the age of 35. While on his way to Edmonton, he pulled over to help a stranded motorist during a snowstorm and was struck and killed by a semi-trailer.
“His last breath was taken doing seva,” Mr. Hallan said.
Prior to the accident, Mr. Bhullar had been urging Mr. Hallan to enter politics. “Shortly before he passed away, he had reached out to me and said: ‘You know what, Jas? It’s time now.’ ”
Mr. Hallan ultimately followed his mentor’s advice, running unsuccessfully for a provincial seat in 2019. Later that year, he won the nomination for the federal riding of Calgary Forest Lawn, previously held by the late Conservative MP Deepak Obhrai. He was first elected to the House of Commons in October, 2019. A little more than a year later, he was given the assignment of immigration critic – a role he cherished.
Mr. Hallan has personally sponsored a family of Afghan refugees. Helping immigrants go through the same experience he and his family went through has long been an important focus of his volunteer and political work.
He took a moment to collect his emotions as he discussed the importance of ensuring that Canada supports those who risked everything to come here.
“That Canadian dream is everything,” he said. “I watch people get off the plane who literally just kiss the ground when they get here.”
Shortly after Pierre Poilievre, a former finance critic, won the Conservative Party leadership, he announced a shadow cabinet shuffle that elevated Mr. Hallan to the key finance-critic role. The move came as a bit of a surprise, given that meant passing over other caucus members with higher public profiles or more years of political experience.
“I’ll never forget my conversation with him,” Mr. Hallan said in reference to receiving his new assignment in October from the party leader. “His number one piece of advice to me was, ‘Jas, both me and you have had humble beginnings. … We need to bring that opportunity back that this country gave to people like me and you that people don’t see today.’ ”
Mr. Poilievre, who also grew up in Calgary, was born to a 16-year-old mother who gave him up for adoption to two school teachers.
Mr. Poilievre gave a public version of that message during a November speech in Parliament that hinted at why he selected Mr. Hallan for the prominent post.
“He is the son of immigrants. He grew up in a tough neighbourhood and had a difficult childhood, but he was able to get a diploma in accounting, which he is putting to very good use in this House. He started a business, built homes and was elected to serve in a G7 Parliament,” he said, before comparing Mr. Hallan’s upbringing with his own and his parents’ message.
“They always taught me it did not matter where I came from, that it mattered where I was going, and it did not matter who I knew, that it mattered what I could do. That is the country I want my children to inherit,” Mr. Poilievre said.
While the Conservative caucus recently went through sharp divisions over leadership issues, it is clear that Mr. Hallan’s friendly and approachable style has made him popular with his fellow Conservative MPs.
In addition to the finance role, he also tours the country regularly, meeting with various immigrant and other community organizations alongside area Conservative MPs.
During a break week earlier this month, Mr. Hallan went on a cross-country outreach tour with deputy Conservative Party leader Tim Uppal, meeting with Jewish, Muslim, Sikh and Ukrainian organizations, as well as other business and community groups.
“I think he understands the immigrant experience. He understands the experience of many communities who have been either left behind or can’t access government,” Melissa Lantsman, a Conservative MP and also a deputy leader, who describes Mr. Hallan as one of the hardest-working MPs on Parliament Hill.
While parties sometimes turn to MPs with Bay Street experience for the role of finance minister or critic, Ms. Lantsman said running a small business for years brings important insight to the job.
“That’s not to disparage the corporate sector, but it’s a very, very different skill set,” she said. “It’s paying the bills every single month and having oftentimes to make sacrifices to do that.”
Goldy Hyder, who represents larger corporations as the chief executive officer of the Business Council of Canada, met recently with Mr. Hallan and said the Conservative MP has a “refreshing” ability to explain why issues such as faster regulatory approvals of energy projects are important to average people in terms of creating jobs.
“The important thing that I took away from it is he is shaped by his history. His history as an immigrant. His history as a small-business owner, really trying to reflect the concerns that businesses across the country are having.”
As for his economic message, Mr. Hallan is largely sticking with the Conservative Party’s core themes: keep spending and taxes low, address cost-of-living concerns, reduce barriers to energy production and focus on technology rather than carbon taxes as the main response to climate change.
“My heart is always with those hardest-working trades people. And I equate that to the same people who are in the energy industry, the farmers, all these people who work so hard with the labours of their own hands,” Mr. Hallan said.
“So I bring all of that to the table. … Pierre was very clear that that’s the experience that he wants brought to this role.”