Editing Raj Pannu

{{AAType
|Image=Raj Pannu.jpg
|Location=Alberta
|Type=Person
|Featured=No
|Arts=Politics and Law, Politicians, Politics
|import ref=ImportFromWikipedia
}}
'''Rajinder Singh "Raj" Pannu''' (born January 12, 1934) is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada Canadian] educator and politician, who led the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberta_New_Democratic_Party Alberta New Democratic Party] from 2000 to 2004.

Pannu was born in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punjab,_India Punjab], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India India] completing an undergraduate degree before immigrating to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada Canada] in 1962. He settled in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitecourt,_Alberta Whitecourt], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberta Alberta], where he worked as a high school teacher until 1964.<ref></ref>

In 1964 he moved to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmonton Edmonton] to work on a graduate program, completing a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_of_Philosophy Ph.D.] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/sociology sociology] in 1973. He taught at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York_University York University] for one year (1968–69) before returning to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Alberta University of Alberta], where he taught for 27 years until his retirement in 1996. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of Alberta.

He entered provincial politics in 1997 when he was first elected to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legislative_Assembly_of_Alberta Legislative Assembly of Alberta] representing the riding of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmonton-Strathcona_(provincial_electoral_district) Edmonton-Strathcona]. Raj became leader in February 2000 after the previous leader, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pam_Barrett Pam Barrett], retired from politics.

Pannu ran a high-profile campaign in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberta_general_election,_2001 2001 Alberta election]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-shirt T-shirt]s emblazoned with the slogan "Raj Against the Machine", as well as a reputation as a "likeable and honest politician" contributed to his popularity and made him a leader well respected by supporters and non-supporters alike.

He announced on July 13, 2004 that he was resigning as party leader. Fellow MLA [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Mason Brian Mason], the deputy leader, became interim leader. Mason was formally elected leader in a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/leadership_convention leadership convention] held on September 18. However, he sought re-election as an MLA in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberta_general_election,_2004 26th Alberta general election], and was re-elected by a wide margin.

On June 14, 2006, he announced his retirement from Alberta politics at the dissolution of the legislature, which took place in February 2008.
{{From wp|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raj_Pannu}}