South Asian business leader Daljit Sidhu will run for council with the Non-Partisan Association and expects to be rubber-stamped by the party at its nomination meeting on September 13.

The head of the Punjabi Market Association said he has been given the green light to run by the NPA board.

“I'm running because I have some issues to raise for small business people, as a small business person,” said Sidhu, who runs an insurance company, S&S Insurance Services.

Sidhu becomes the ninth candidate of an expected ten-person slate with the centre-right NPA. His presence also adds a high-profile South Asian candidate to the NPA card. There has been much keyboard tapping in recent years over why so few candidates from the community have ever been elected at the civic level.

It was Sidhu, after all, who unsuccessfully ran for the NPA in 1993, a year in which he was the only NPA council candidate not to be voted in. But Sidhu says times have changed.

“People don't really care about race and gender anymore,” said the 30-year Vancouver resident. “The climate is people understand, if he or she is capable, then they will vote for him or her.”

Irwin Loy reports on municipal affairs for 24 hours.