Editor's Note: An earlier version of this article appeared in the Western Standard, on February 25th of this year..It would be tough to find anyone with a more interesting resume than Shuvaloy Majumdar..Well known in conservative circles in Alberta and across Canada, I predict the former ministerial staffer in Stephen Harper's government will be well known and respected by people of all political stripes in the years to come, particularly if the federal Conservatives win government in the next general election..Known as Shuv to his friends, Majumdar won the Conservative nomination for the southwest riding of Calgary-Heritage. Should he then become the member of Parliament for the true-blue Conservative seat, it's safe to say the 43-year-old born-and-raised Calgarian should be a shoo-in as Foreign Affairs minister in a Pierre Poilievre government.. Majumdar and Stephen HarperMajumdar, shown here with then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the PM's Langevin office, served as a senior staffer in the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. .Majumdar says back in the 1990s he got involved in Reform Party politics while a student at the University of Calgary, where he first became friends with current Conservative Leader Poilievre some 25 years ago..Majumdar was taken under wing by Reform Party Leader Preston Manning and was recruited by the elder statesman to work at the Manning Centre for Building Democracy (renamed the Canada Strong and Free Network) helping to grow Conservative infrastructure in Canada..It was while he worked alongside Manning that the International Republican Institute, a Washington-based, non-partisan organization, reached out to him to go to Iraq to help people in that country and in Afghanistan build democratic infrastructure by helping democratic reformers secure their freedom.."One thing I did was to train legislators in how to be an effective legislator — how do you represent constituents, how do you perform in your parliament, how do you craft laws and build coalitions. One was to help parties on how to organize democratically — not violently — and how do you go to the doors, how do you build a list and get people out to vote. Another way was to do massive public opinion research so Iraqi and Afghan leaders could respond to the will of their people," explains Majumdar during a recent interview..He also helped media organizations get off the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq. It was an intense and dangerous time, but he enjoyed living "in the cradle of civilization" so full of history amongst "some of the most hospitable people in the world" where he made many life-long friends. He started in early 2006 at the height of the sectarian war there and stayed for four years..He admits he saw many horrific things, but "I also saw really heroic things. I saw people and worked with people of every denomination who believed in the promise of self government and were willing and did risk everything to secure that sense of freedom that we take sometimes for granted here," says Majumdar..Majumdar's bright countenance darkens as he reflects on the 16th anniversary of the Jan. 17, 2007 death of a dear friend, Andi Parhamovich. The Ohio native was killed when the convoy she was in was ambushed as she was returning from teaching a class on democracy near Baghdad. She was just 28.."Andi was a really special human being. We really bonded very closely because we arrived on the same flight to Baghdad together, we got acclimatized to Iraq together. When she was killed it was a really dark time.."The battle scars of these experiences stay with you for your entire life and you can choose to look at them as ugly, or you can choose to look at them as lessons. I'm proud of my battle scars, all of them, because it comprises who I am today because there's a sense of learning and humility that comes with it,” he philosophizes.."I went into Iraq as a super ideological, neo-conservative George W. Bush fan. Today, I'm a lot more tempered by those kinds of things because I've learned about the failures of the last 15 years.".Prior to heading off to Iraq and Afghanistan, Majumdar says he didn't realize just how formative his work with Manning could be outside of Canada.."I never expected it,” say Majumdar, who was born in Calgary, raised in the southeast community of Midnapore and “played hockey poorly in Okotoks.”."When I was hanging out with Preston working on how to better build the conservative movement in Canada I never thought those tools of developing the training, the communications and the research could somehow have relevance to other places as well. It was remarkably good foundational training in terms of how to approach other countries and nations and help those who are trying to build their own freedom and self determination. It doesn't make sense on paper but it made sense in practice.".After his return to Canada in 2010 Majumdar worked as a visiting foreign policy scholar at the University of British Columbia's Liu Institute for Global Issues from 2010 to 2012, which included lecturing in the Ivy League in the United States..Between 2011 and 2015, he served as the policy director to successive Canadian foreign ministers — including John Baird — as well as senior policy advisor to its minister for international development and assisting the prime minister and his cabinet to navigate key issues of the global economy and international security..Shortly after Justin Trudeau's Liberals were swept to power, Majumdar was hired by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute to lead its foreign policy and national security program, helping to build "a multi-disciplinary and multi-partisan team of more than 25 of the nation's foremost foreign, defence and national security policy thinkers," states an MLI media release..“Shuv has been instrumental in MLI’s rapid growth and influence on public policy,” says MLI's Managing Director Brian Lee Crowley. “His quick mind, worldwide contacts and encyclopedic knowledge will be sorely missed by all of us at the institute. He leaves with our good wishes, thanks and gratitude for a peerless contribution to making MLI one of the top think tanks in Canada.”.During his time at MLI, Majumdar continued working with Harper at the high-profile Harper & Associates on energy, technology and business, where he has worked since its inception.."There's a woke wave of tyranny rolling across this land and it has to be confronted. It's confusing our corporate board rooms because the federal government prioritizes Russian gas over Canadian energy and Canadian energy ingenuity. It's creating an environment where there is no reasonable debate," he says. "It is cancelling thoughtful people for having a dissenting view from what the orthodoxy might want to hold onto and I see it dividing our country, tearing things down rather than building things up. That's one of the reasons I want to go to Ottawa and why Pierre must win.".Manning thinks as highly of Majumdar as Majumdar does of Manning..Reached via email, Manning says, 'Enter Prepared' is the advice the famous Roman Senator Cicero gave to those desiring to enter the political arena.."And two of the things that have always impressed me about Shuv are his willingness to take that advice and the efforts he's made over the years to prepare himself for political office," said Manning. "If and when he's elected he will 'Enter Prepared', to the benefit of his constituents.".And now Majumdar, who lives in Haysboro with his girlfriend, is looking to "enter prepared" into elected political life and make "a peerless" contribution to the constituents of Calgary-Heritage, the southwest riding his boss, Harper, used to represent..The seat is now vacant after MP Bob Benzen announced his resignation effective Jan. 1. Another candidate vying to be the nominee for the Conservatives in the next federal election is Quinn Heffron, who's in his early 20s and appears to be a lovely and earnest young man, but who has a resume as light as Majumdar's is weighty. The nomination vote is on Friday, March 3 from 2 to 8 p.m. at the Canyon Meadows Golf & Country Club banquet room..Elections Canada says a by-election must be held on a Monday by Aug. 21..Majumdar has a work history like few others and will undoubtedly make a significant contribution to his constituents if given the chance and hopefully to Canada and the world as a foreign affairs minister.
