Gulzar Singh Cheema (born August 11, 1954) is an Indian-born Canadian physician and politician. Cheema was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1988 to 1993, and a member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 2001 to 2004, making him one of only a few Canadian politicians to sit in two provincial legislatures since Confederation. He is the first Indian-born person to be elected MLA in Canada. He was also a cabinet minister in the government of Premier of British Columbia Gordon Campbell from 2001 to 2004, and was a candidate of the Liberal Party of Canada in the federal election of 2004. Education The son of Ajinder Singh Cheema and Ajit Kaur Aulakh. he was born in village-Benagarh Jammu district in the [Jammu and kashmir] of India and received a bachelor's degree in medicine and surgery from Punjab University in 1977. In 1979, he married Harinder Claire daughter of Inderjit singh Claire and Baljit Claire and moved to Canada. He interned at Memorial University of Newfoundland and was a resident at Saskatoon's University Hospital. He was a family physician in Winnipeg from 1984 to 1993. In 1992, he was awarded the Canada 125 Medal for community service. To promote the health and welfare of the community, Cheema participates weekly on local multicultural radio talk shows and M Channel, a local multicultural television channel. Cheema is practicing family medicine and is a clinical assistant professor for the Department of Family Practice at UBC as well as the medical director for iCON South Asian Division eHealth Strategy Office Faculty of Medicine, UBC. He lives in Surrey, British Columbia, with his wife and children. Manitoba politics In the Manitoba general election of 1988, Cheema was elected as a Liberal in the northeastern Winnipeg riding of Kildonan. The Liberals went from one to twenty seats in the Manitoba legislature in this election, winning several Winnipeg seats from the governing New Democratic Party (NDP). Cheema defeated Progressive Conservative candidate John Baluta by 585 votes, with NDP incumbent Marty Dolin finishing third. The Progressive Conservatives came out of the election with a minority government, and Cheema became a member of the official opposition. Cheema increased his margin of victory in the 1990 provincial election when he ran in the new riding of The Maples, but the Liberal Party fell to seven seats and third-party status. During his time in the Manitoba