Well known in conservative circles in Alberta and across Canada, I predict the former ministerial staffer in Stephen Harper’s government will be well known and respected by people of all political stripes in the years to come, particularly if the federal Conservatives win government in the next general election.
Known as Shuv to his friends, Majumdar won the Conservative nomination for the southwest riding of Calgary-Heritage. Should he then become the member of Parliament for the true-blue Conservative seat, it’s safe to say the 43-year-old born-and-raised Calgarian should be a shoo-in as Foreign Affairs minister in a Pierre Poilievre government.Majumdar says back in the 1990s he got involved in Reform Party politics while a student at the University of Calgary, where he first became friends with current Conservative Leader Poilievre some 25 years ago.
Majumdar swept to a comprehensive win with nearly two-third of the votes cast, according to preliminary results posted by Elections Canada.
Majumdar, the Conservative Party candidate, easily bested his closest rivals from the ruling Liberal Party and the New Democratic Party. The seat had become vacant following the retirement of the sitting MP Bob Benzen in December last year.
Majumdar captured the nomination to contest the by-poll for his party this summer before romping home on Monday.
He was born in Calgary to immigrants from India and spent time working in both Iraq and Afghanistan in the early 2000s. Known for his expertise in foreign policy and national security spheres, Majumdar had earlier worked in the office of Stephen Harper, when he was the Prime Minister. In fact, Harper had represented Calgary Heritage from 2015 to 2019, before retiring from electoral politics following his party’s defeat to the Liberals led by Justin Trudeau in the elections in 2019.
Majumdar also worked as an adviser in the office of Canada’s foreign minister in the Harper government.
Following that stint in the government, he was involved with think tanks, most recently as a senior fellow with the Ottawa-based Macdonald Laurier Institute (MLI).
According to his official bio, he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal in 2023 “for his service in Iraq and Afghanistan, and for advancing Canadian interests abroad in a disrupted world”.
He continued also to work with Harper in the latter’s consultancy. Harper endorsed Majumdar’s candidacy ahead of the voting, while he also enjoyed the support of the leader of the Conservatives Pierre Poilievre. The Conservative Party leader congratulated Majumdar on his win, describing the effort as “amazing”.
What made Majumdar’s victory important was that it came from a riding with a nominal South Asian population, of less than four per cent. Almost all the Indo-Canadian MPs in the House of Commons currently represent seats with large populations with roots in India or the subcontinent.
