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Mustaque Sarker, who is running for the Conservative Party in the riding of Papineau, speaks a wide range of languages, including French, English, Bengali, Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi. And well he might — since he also lives in heart of the riding. Papineau is perhaps Canada's most culturally-diverse constituency. As a result, Sarker, who is taking his third run for the MP's seat, also has a basic knowledge of German and Arabic.
Sarker's third try
While the Liberals overwhelmingly dominated elections in Papineau from the early 1960s until 1980, the 1984 election saw a close outcome in which the Conservative candidate came within about 700 votes of unseating longtime Liberal incumbent André Ouellet. In the 2004 election, when the Bloc Québécois finally defeated the Liberals, Sarker came in a distant third for the Conservatives. Sarker, an accounting firm owner with many clients throughout the riding, has a Master of Science degree, as well as an MBA.
Active in federal politics since 1985, he says, "I am very involved in my community and take part in various social and political activities." Sarker is president of the Bangladesh-Canada Friendship Association and the United Multicultural Society, chair of the Canada-Bangladesh Economic Partnership, and a founding member of the Foundation of Professional Immigrants of Canada. In 1996, he was awarded the Good Canadian Citizen Award, which was presented to him by the prime minister in recognition of his contributions to the community.
Smallest riding in Canada
At nine square kilometres, Papineau is said to cover the smallest area of any federal riding in Canada. As of the 2006 census, the riding had one of the lowest family income rates in the country. Linguistically, 45 per cent of residents list French as their mother tongue, eight per cent list English, and fully 47 per cent list neither French nor English. Large numbers of residents speak Spanish, Italian, Greek and Arabic. Forty per cent of the riding's population are immigrants.
"In 135 years in this riding, nothing has been improved," says Sarker. "I know, as all the citizens of Papineau know, that nothing has been changed. This is the third poorest riding in Canada, and it`s continuing because we were giving the chance to the Liberals and nothing happened with them except for broken promises. They were fed up with the Liberals and a chance was given to the Bloc Québécois. Now in the Conservatives we have a strong leader with strong commitments to deliver the goods.
Not fond of Liberal rival
"I myself believe and I am confident that I am the right person, because I have lived in this riding 25 years," adds Sarker. "I work here, I have lived through the poverty and have made myself a successul entrepreneur. I want to to give my expertise and my hard work to this community, and nobody can offer more than that. I am not against any of my rivals, Bloc or Liberal. But to talk about Justin Trudeau, he never had in life one day without breakfast or with his stomach hungry. He will never ever understand the third-poorest riding's people, how they feel. He was parachuted here. He never lived here.
"He's a rich candidate here among all of us," says Sarker. "How is he going to understand the poor people suffering? This is not his place. This is my place." Sarker also holds Trudeau accountable for comments he made last year which questioned a federal resolution declaring Quebec a "distinctive nation." "He disrespected the Québécois, where he was born, where I am living. He treated the Québécois like they were small children. You don't tell them that they don't deserve to be a nation within Canada, as they deserve."
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