One of the Good Guys

Sasha believes in leading with compassion. As the great Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Ultimately a great nation is a compassionate nation”. Sasha believes in such and will lead Canada with compassion. If elected, Sasha will serve New Westminster-Burnaby by collaborating with its residents and ensuring that that the individual voices of New Westminster-Burnaby are heard in Ottawa. Sasha Ramnarine is the Liberal Party of Canada Candidate for the riding of New Westminster-Burnaby in the upcoming Federal Election in October 2015.

Passionate about working hard to improve the lives of families and individuals, Sasha’s mission in life is to inspire and touch the hearts of many people as he walks through life. A bearer of many hats, Sasha is known for putting 150% into every project. Whether he is navigating through business, social justice, or driving public advocacy in Ottawa, Sasha strives to help Canadians achieve their potential.

Since he was nine years old, Sasha learned the trials of starting a business at his family’s restaurant, Roti Bistro. Quickly developing the leadership skills necessary for an entrepreneur’s success, Sasha was managing all aspects of the restaurant by the time he was 16 years old. Roti Bistro is where he developed a strong fiscal and business acumen, which has helped him in starting and building his own legal practice serving small businesses and start-up companies. Familiar with all of the trials that occur when starting/ running a business, Sasha has dedicated his work to helping small businesses build a strong legal foundation to ensure their success. But his passion for entrepreneurship stretches beyond business. He gives his spare time to organizations such as the Vancouver Board of Trade, and Burnaby Board of Trade where he acts as a mentor to new entrepreneurs and business students, and the Small Business Council, where he acts as the Chair for the Events Committee. With his team, Sasha has organized numerous speaker events to educate small business owners about business growth. This is play for Sasha as well, since he often participates in speaking to pursue their passions. But from where does this natural inclination towards entrepreneurship stem? As a second generation Canadian, Sasha witnessed the adversity and hard work of his parent’s adaptation to Canada as immigrants from Trinidad and Tobago. His background and experiences in his upbringing have led him to dedicate his time to support new immigrants and refugees. As a career mentor for MOSAIC BC, Sasha mentors new immigrants that come to Canada to build a better life. He helps new immigrants and their families find their paths to success in Canada by aiding them with their job search, networking skills, and teaching workshops about personal development. He devotes himself with an understanding of the value of international immigrant talent to enhancing the Canadian labour force. However, he also understands that we need to take care of the people in our country.

With this in mind, in 2011, he began his volunteer work with UOttawa Environmental Law Clinic – Ecojustice Canada in Ottawa. His projects addressed issues facing First Nations communities and the research he conducted contributed to a strong argument to establish a legal right to safe drinking water in First Nations communities. Sasha continues to support environmental work that impacts all Canadians and is committed to environmental sustainability. Meanwhile, he has also been applying research methods to other social justice issues.

For almost two years, Sasha actively applied his research background regarding high-risk youth and worked with various organizations to recommend policy changes to the B.C. Government. Sitting on various committees via the Vancouver Board of Trade, he also worked on initiatives to help homeless individuals throughout the Lower Mainland, encourage more jobs in the region, and identify ways to reduce traffic pollution in the greater Vancouver area. Though Sasha spends energy working on a national, and provincial scale, his heart belongs to New Westminster and Burnaby. New Westminster is where he first acquired his post-secondary education at Douglas College. Burnaby is where he worked for the City of Burnaby Park and Recreation department since 2007. These cities are where Sasha had played one of his favourite sports, cricket, as an all-rounder, opening batsmen and offbreak bowler with the British Columbia Mainland Cricket League. That’s why he is running in the upcoming election for New Westminster-Burnaby. He believes that by collaborating with its residents in his home riding and being the voice of New Westminster and Burnaby, he will be able to make change in Ottawa through compassion. Because, as Dr. Martin Luther King once said, “Ultimately a great nation is a compassionate nation”.