Parm Bains
Canadian politician
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Paramvir "Parm" Bains is a Canadian politician. A member of the Liberal Party, he has represented Richmond East—Steveston in the House of Commons since the 2021 federal election. He was re-elected in the 2025 federal election.
- Politician
Parm Bains | |
|---|---|
Bains in 2025 | |
| Member of Parliament for Richmond East—Steveston Steveston—Richmond East (2021-2025) | |
| Assumed office September 20, 2021[1] | |
| Preceded by | Kenny Chiu |
| Personal details | |
| Party | Liberal |
| Alma mater | British Columbia Institute of Technology Royal Roads University (Master of Arts)[2] |
| Occupation |
|
Early life and career prior to politics
Bains was born in Victoria, British Columbia.[4] He is from a Jat Sikh family and his parents immigrated to Canada from Village Mahilpur Punjab, India.[5][6] Bains is married and has two children.[7]
Prior to his election, Bains was an instructor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. He has also worked as a media and public relations officer with the provincial government.
Political career
Bains ran for Richmond City Council in the 2018 British Columbia municipal elections, but was not elected. In the 2021 federal election, he defeated incumbent Kenny Chiu.[8][9] He was re-elected in the 2025 federal election, receiving 48.5% of the vote.
In the 2025 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election, Bains endorsed Mark Carney.[10]
Chinese interference allegations
In 2023, allegations surfaced that the Chinese government may have attempted to influence Parm Bains' 2021 election victory in Steveston—Richmond East.[11][12] Reports indicated disinformation campaigns on Chinese-language platforms, such as WeChat and WhatsApp, targeted his opponent Kenny Chiu, a critic of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and sponsor of a foreign influence registry bill.[13]
Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) documents flagged the riding as a potential target of interference.[14][15] Bains denied that foreign interference played a role in his victory and insisted he won "fair and square."[16]
Electoral history
Federal elections
| 2025 Canadian federal election: Richmond East—Steveston | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Parm Bains | 25,705 | 48.45 | +6.54 | ||||
| Conservative | Zach Segal | 24,605 | 46.38 | +12.39 | ||||
| New Democratic | Keefer Pelech | 2,251 | 4.24 | –15.14 | ||||
| Green | Steven Ji | 494 | 0.93 | –1.41 | ||||
| Total valid votes/expense limit | 53,055 | 100.0 | – | $129,548.56 | ||||
| Total rejected ballots | 361 | 0.68 | –0.24 | |||||
| Turnout | 53,416 | 63.98 | +11.21 | |||||
| Eligible voters | 83,489 | |||||||
| Liberal notional hold | Swing | –2.93 | ||||||
| Source: Elections Canada[17] | ||||||||
| 2021 Canadian federal election: Steveston—Richmond East | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Parm Bains | 16,543 | 42.47 | +7.36 | $107,393.91 | |||
| Conservative | Kenny Chiu | 13,066 | 33.55 | –8.11 | $88,909.23 | |||
| New Democratic | Jack Trovato | 7,525 | 19.32 | +4.25 | $9,430.58 | |||
| People's | Jennifer Singh | 955 | 2.45 | – | $2,482.99 | |||
| Green | Françoise Raunet | 860 | 2.21 | –4.87 | none listed | |||
| Total valid votes/expense limits | 38,949 | 100.00 | – | $108,448.59 | ||||
| Total rejected ballots | 363 | 0.92 | –0.10 | |||||
| Turnout | 39,312 | 52.77 | –4.17 | |||||
| Eligible voters | 74,503 | |||||||
| Liberal gain from Conservative | Swing | +7.74 | ||||||
| Source: Elections Canada[18][19][20] | ||||||||
Municipal elections
Top 8 candidates elected — Incumbents marked with "(X)". Elected members' names are in bold
| Party | Council candidate | Vote | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RITE Richmond | Carol Day (X) | 20,871 | 7.01 | |
| Richmond Citizens' Association | Harold Steves (X) | 19,136 | 6.43 | |
| Richmond Community Coalition | Chak Au (X) | 18,026 | 6.05 | |
| Richmond First | Bill McNulty (X) | 17,242 | 5.79 | |
| Richmond Citizens' Association | Kelly Greene | 16,464 | 5.53 | |
| Richmond First | Linda McPhail (X) | 15,521 | 5.21 | |
| RITE Richmond | Michael Wolfe | 13,627 | 4.58 | |
| Independent | Alexa Loo (X) | 13,212 | 4.44 | |
| Richmond First | Derek Dang (X) | 13,115 | 4.40 | |
| Richmond First | Andy Hobbs | 12,336 | 4.14 | |
| Richmond Citizens' Association | Judie Schneider | 11,672 | 3.92 | |
| Richmond Community Coalition | Ken Johnston (X) | 11,161 | 3.75 | |
| Richmond Community Coalition | Jonathan Ho | 11,140 | 3.74 | |
| Richmond Citizens' Association | Jack Trovato | 10,915 | 3.67 | |
| Richmond First | Sunny Ho | 8,933 | 3.00 | |
| RITE Richmond | Niti Sharma | 8,917 | 2.99 | |
| RITE Richmond | Henry Yao | 8,467 | 2.84 | |
| Richmond First | Peter Liu | 8,357 | 2.81 | |
| Richmond Community Coalition | Parm Bains | 7,973 | 2.68 | |
| Independent | John Roston | 7,961 | 2.67 | |
| Richmond Community Coalition | Melissa Zhang | 7,708 | 2.38 | |
| Independent | Kerry Starchuk | 6,959 | 2.34 | |
| Independent | Jason Tarnow | 5,720 | 1.92 | |
| Independent | Adil Awan | 4,278 | 1.44 | |
| Independent | Manjit Singh | 4,134 | 1.39 | |
| Independent | Dennis Page | 3,478 | 1.17 | |
| Independent | Andy Chiang | 3,337 | 1.12 | |
| Independent | Theresa Head | 3,251 | 1.09 | |
| Independent | Patrick J. Saunders | 2,241 | 0.75 | |
| Independent | Zhe Zhang | 2,241 | 0.75 | |
