New MP — and new Hamiltonian — Aslam Rana says he's working hard to bring federal money to the city

CBC

3 days ago

Aslam Rana, the new member of Parliament for Hamilton Centre, wants you to know that he is now a riding resident.
Before sitting down for an interview with CBC Hamilton on Monday, Rana, who previously lived in Mississauga, Ont., asked if we could be sure to ask the question that has been on many local people's minds since he was elected in April.
"I moved in here in Corktown," said the MP, who defeated six-year NDP MP Matthew Green as part of a Liberal Party surge that saw Mark Carney become prime minister. He also hopes his family will soon follow. The youngest of Rana's five children enters Grade 9 this fall.
He said he's had long, packed days since the election, with an evening meeting that started after 8 p.m. the night before our interview, followed by an 8 a.m. meeting the next morning.
Sitting at his desk in his newly opened office on Charlton Street East, in a medical building across from St. Joseph's hospital, Rana exudes enthusiasm for his new job and is eager to talk about the local organizations he has met with or advocated for in Ottawa.
Following his morning with CBC — which included a lengthy interview, a visit to a campaign volunteer's business and a quick stop at the original Tim Hortons site on Ottawa Street North — he had a two-hour meeting scheduled with the chief executive officer at Hamilton General Hospital, he said.
WATCH | Aslam Rana says he has moved to Hamilton:
Hamilton Centre MP Aslam Rana made good on his promise of moving to the riding
5 hours ago
Also this week, he said, he'll be part of a roundtable about crime with the Hamilton Police Service and Secretary of State for Combatting Crime Ruby Sahota. That public event is scheduled for Wednesday evening, but no location had been booked as of Tuesday afternoon, according to constituency assistant Mussab Imran.
Rana described other recent meetings, with organizations including McMaster University and Pathways to Education, saying he's working hard to find out what local groups need while pushing ministers in Ottawa for funding.
There will soon be a Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) inspection station at Hamilton's port as a result of his efforts, he said, a change that will save time for shippers as goods that require inspection are currently sent to Brampton.
The new MP also said several local organizations — including the Art Gallery of Hamilton, Supercrawl and Hamilton Conservation Authority — have already received federal funding promises as a result of his work. However, when asked for the amounts of those announcements, his office said it could not disclose the information. All three organizations also received federal funding in recent years, before Rana's election.
Rana said he's approaching his job as MP with the same ethos that he used to start his life over again when he moved to Canada from Pakistan in 2003.
"It's not an easy journey, but … if we have enthusiasm, and the dedication and clear vision, we can make the difference," he said. "We can achieve what we want."
'My vision was clear… I wanted to do something'
Rana was born in rural Pakistan, the child of two farmers, and moved to Lahore to study engineering and start his career. After arriving in Canada through the skilled worker pathway to permanent residence, he said, he worked 18 hours a day at two gas stations and a pizza restaurant to help get his family stay afloat.
He began running a gas station about a year and a half later and eventually went to Toronto Metropolitan University to get a master's in civil engineering. He was working as an engineer for the City of Toronto when he got elected this spring.
"My vision was clear," he said, acknowledging his journey from gas-station attendant to MP. "I wanted to do something, even though I had five kids and I had to make some money to feed them as well."
His children are also high achievers: of the four who have finished high school, one is in medical residency while another is in medical school, one is working on a PhD in political science and the other is studying environmental science.
Asked why he ran in Hamilton, considering he was living in Mississauga and working in Toronto, Rana said it was his own choice after spending lots of time in Hamilton since 2013 due to friends he knows here. He said he loves the city and he was allowed to run after passing the party's vetting process.
"I don't think too many people even applied," he said.
After Carney replaced Justin Trudeau as Liberal leader, the political momentum swung away from the Conservatives, who had been leading in the polls for months. Carney won with a slim minority government, a wave that helped Rana oust Green.
Rana said he kept a hectic pace during the campaign, trying to door-knock at as many homes as possible — a goal that led him to abandon the local candidates' televised debate at the last minute.
No response from Rana 'disappointing': constituent
Since Rana's election, CBC has heard from several Hamilton Centre residents who say they've tried to contact the MP, but to no avail.
One of them, Nikki Buglar, said she emailed June 3 for help in getting the status of a permanent residency application, then called and emailed again several weeks later.
"There was no auto reply, no response at all," Buglar told CBC Hamilton last week, saying she called again the week before. She said someone answered the phone and said they'd get back to her within a week, but then they did not.
"To have no response, and to commit to a time for a response and still nothing, it's kind of disappointing. I probably wouldn't reach out again for anything. What's the point?"
Rana said his office only opened July 7, acknowledging there's a big backlog of correspondence his team needs to work through, and apologized to those who are waiting.
He said that with so many new MPs being elected, it took time to go through mandated House of Commons processes such as receiving vetted computer equipment and having an office firewall installed.
He added his team has been prioritizing residents who need help with their taxes, as the election was during tax season and people receiving housing subsidies need their notice of assessment to maintain their housing. He suggested people come in person to his office if they need urgent help and haven't heard back.
"They can come in any time. We are here until 8 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon and the other working days, we are here from 9:30 until 5 p.m.," he said.
New MP 'basically starting from scratch,' says political scientist
Chris Erl, a Toronto Metropolitan University political scientist who lives in Hamilton, said there's a lot to do to get an office going when new MPs are elected, particularly if the MP won the seat from a different party.
"You're basically starting from scratch. The Liberals had basically no infrastructure in Hamilton Centre," Erl said Tuesday. "You're creating files on all your brand-new constituents, building a whole operation from scratch. And if an MP comes into office unexpectedly or they beat an incumbent … usually there's a spotlight on them."
Erl said Rana has made some public comments that indicate he could use some communications training from the party.
He said Rana claims to be instrumental in getting a provincial Ministerial Zoning Order (MZO) to allow the city to go ahead with the Jamesville housing development despite opposition from CN Rail. Rana implied something similar in his interview with CBC Hamilton, even though an MZO is a provincial process that Mayor Andrea Horwarth requested from the Ontario government.
"It's finally started moving because I talked with the housing minister … I talked with the CEO of CN Railway," Rana told CBC Hamilton.
Erl said that is a questionable claim.
"It's a big issue in the community and he's trying to associate his name with something that could be seen as a success," said Erl. "Rana is far more present than people in the community expected him to be, but the ways he's been present have kind of raised eyebrows."
After CBC Hamilton's visit to Rana's office, he took Imran, the constituency assistant, and our reporter on a drive through the riding, marvelling at the view from the Sherman Access and commenting on the quality of all the construction work we passed.
When the group arrived at the Barton Street East business owned by campaign volunteer Liansi Tan of Your Hair Salon, a man standing behind the building watched suspiciously as our group exited the car. His expression softened once it was clear Rana was there to see Tan.
Tan appeared overjoyed to see Rana and said she was happy he had won the election. She said the change in representation for the area was important to try to reduce homelessness and poverty, and because of the trade impasse between Canada and the United States amid the tariff war. Those issues motivated her to volunteer for his campaign, for which she knocked on doors and helped put up signs.
"This MP works 24 hours almost. He always returns your call during 24 hours and he says that he doesn't matter if you [chose him] or not, you accept me or not, I still work for you," she said.