Calgary – Greenway MLA Manmeet Bhullar, killed Monday afternoon in a accident north of Red Deer, was a community leader who served his constituents tirelessly, colleague and former Alberta Solicitor General Jonathan Denis told the Sun.
“Manmeet was salt of the earth,” he said.
“He was loyal as the day is long — I’m still in utter shock.”
Early reports suggest Bhullar was struck and killed by a transport truck while outside his vehicle trying to assist the driver of a car that had crashed on the QEII north of Red Deer.
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Born in southeast Calgary on March 1, 1980, Manmeet Singh Bhullar spent his formative years in the city’s Whitehorn neighbourhood, graduating from Lester B. Pearson high school in 1998.
He earned his law degree in 2011 from the University of Windsor.
Bhullar first rose to prominence as an advocate for Calgary’s growing Sikh community, founding Calgary’s Dashmesh Mission in 1999, providing support for at-risk Sikh youth in Calgary.
He later helped found the non-denominational Inspire youth group, as well as the city’s Walking Hunger Away campaign.
Bhullar’s political involvement began in 2003 as part of Jim Prentice’s failed leadership bid for the federal Progressive Conservative party.
He later worked on Prentice’s staff during the former Alberta premier’s time as a federal MP in the riding of Calgary Centre-North.
Running in the 2008 Alberta provincial election, Bhullar narrowly beat out independent Ron Leech in the riding of Calgary-Montrose.
At the age of 27, Bhullar was among a crop of rising young stars in the Alberta PC party.
Appointed by premier Ed Stelmach as Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Advanced Education and Technology, he later served as Minister in the Service Alberta and Human Services portfolios — the first turbaned Sikh appointed to a provincial cabinet post.
Following his party’s defeat in May’s provincial election, Bhullar was one of only nine Alberta PCs to hold onto their seats.