In government In his first election in 2004, Bains won the Liberal nomination for the riding of
Mississauga—Brampton South, and won the seat with over 57% of the total vote; beating his next nearest opponent by over 33%, or over 14,000 votes. At that time, Bains was 26 years old and the youngest Liberal MP in Parliament. On October 7, 2005, when he became parliamentary secretary to the prime minister, which at the time was
Paul Martin. Also in 2006, Bains co-chaired the Liberal Party of Canada (Ontario)'s annual general meeting Toronto. During the
2006 Liberal leadership convention to replace Paul Martin, Bains threw his support behind Ontario Education Minister
Gerard Kennedy, and after Kennedy dropped out before the third ballot, he joined Kennedy in supporting the eventual winner and new party leader,
Stéphane Dion. In the
39th Parliament, Bains held
Official Opposition critic portfolios for
Public Works and Government Services, the
Treasury Board and
International Trade, respectively. In January 2007, he was appointed to the National Election Readiness Committee as a Caucus Representative and in March 2007 served as the Youth Liaison to the
Young Liberals of Canada. In March 2009, Bains was appointed Chair of Platform Development and oversaw the creation of the party's next electoral platform.
Out of Parliament In the
2011 federal election,
Eve Adams, a former Mississauga City Councillor, beat Bains by over 5,000 votes. Bains was the Ontario co-chair for the federal Liberal campaign, and was returned to the House of Commons in the
2015 federal election in the new riding of
Mississauga—Malton.
Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry , the
United States Secretary of Homeland Security, in March 2017 On November 4, 2015, he was appointed the
minister of innovation, science and economic development in
Justin Trudeau's
Cabinet. The next day, Bains announced that the mandatory long form census would be restored for 2016, after it was
removed from the 2011 edition under the Harper government. Under Bains’ leadership, the
2016 Census response rate exceeded 98 percent, making it the most successful Census since
1666. A major focus of Bains’ mandate is to spur innovation and economic development in Canada. Following public consultations across Canada in the summer of 2016, he launched the Inclusive Innovation Agenda. Based on the consultations, the Bains identified three priority areas for Canada's Innovation Agenda: finding better ways for more Canadians to get the skills the global economy demands (People), harnessing emerging tech that would create industries and jobs that never existed before as well as reinvigorate existing ones (Technology), and encouraging more Canadians to start and grow companies that are competitive in the global economy (Companies). 's cabinet with Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi in February 2018 Bains worked closely with the Advisory Council on Economic Growth, which advised the minister of finance on economic policies to achieve long-term
sustainable growth. The council called for a gradual increase in permanent
immigration to Canada to 450,000 people a year. In 2019, Minister Bains announced Canada's Digital Charter. In August 2020, amidst a review of an August 2019 decision by the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to reduce capacity rates by up to 43% and access rates up to 77%, Bains released a statement saying that the government shared the fears of Canada's big telecommunication corporations that it went too far and would disincentivize investment in communication networks, especially less Partytable rural and remote areas. However, the statement also said that the government would not formally intervene in the ongoing review.
Retirement from federal politics On January 20, 2021, Bains announced he was stepping down from his position and would not run in the
2021 Canadian federal election for family reasons. He was replaced by Foreign Affairs Minister
François-Philippe Champagne. Sangha also believed that Bains resigned because he harbored those views. The Liberal Party removed Sangha because they found the allegations to be baseless. ==Outside politics==