fast-track some applicants. Dhalla suggested that the Conservatives would show favouritism to immigrants from certain communities. She was quoted as saying, "I think they're really picking and choosing for political purposes which communities they want to work with, and that is why there is a fear among these communities that the immigration laws being proposed right now are going to have an impact on them." Dhalla also was successful in lobbying the government to allow Sikhs whose last name is Singh or Kaur to not have to attach an additional last name to immigrate to Canada. Dhalla issued a Private Member's Bill in April 2008, calling on the federal government to apologize for the 1914 Komagata Maru incident, in which a ship with 376 mostly Sikh immigrants was denied access to Canada. The bill was unanimously passed the following month. In 2008 Dhalla faced a difficult re-election in 2008, and ultimately defeated Conservative candidate Parm Gill by a small margin amid a provincial swing from the Liberals to Conservatives. This contest was marked with the Opponents (Parm Gills) brother being charged with the slashing of Dhalla's signs. In the 2008 election the Conservatives were re-elected to a second minority government on the national level. Shortly after the election, a Toronto man was charged with making death threats and stalking Dhalla. In Parliament Dhalla continued to raise issues affecting women, minorities and youth and worked to promote trade between Canada and emerging economies. January 2008 Indian visit Dhalla traveled to the Indian state of Punjab in January 2008. While attending a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) seminar, she called on the state government to introduce more stringent laws to prevent the abuse of married women. She later visited her parents' village of Mullanpur.<ref>"NRIs cherish visiting their ancestral villages", Asian News International, 21 January 2008.</ref> During this trip, a member of Dhalla's staff had a purse stolen by two children. Allegations later surfaced that the children were beaten by the police after being apprehended, and a local television station ran an out-of-context quote from Dhalla that seemed to imply she condoned the violence. The station later issued a full retraction and acknowledged that Dhalla's comments had been presented out of context. Dhalla clarified that she condemned any type of violence against children and called for an investigation into the incident. 40th Canadian Parliament Stéphane Dion stepped down as Liberal leader after a very poor