When Belent Mathew left Mamangalam, his quaint little town in Kerala’s Ernakulam district nearly three decades ago, he had little idea that he would one day be contesting federal elections in another country in a different continent.

The 51-year-old legal consultant, who is running from Scarborough Centre—Don Valley East for the Conservative Party, is the only Malayali candidate in the Canadian federal election slated for April 28. Mathew is up against the incumbent Liberal MP Salma Zahid, a Pakistani Canadian.

If elected, Mathew would become the only member of the Malayali immigrant community to enter the Canadian Parliament. So far, only one person with Malayali roots has made it to Parliament—Joe Daniel, who won from Don Valley East as a Conservative in 2011. Though Joe was born and raised in Tanzania, his family hails from Pathanamthitta.

The second son of retired HMT employee  Mathew Chittamkott and Elsy Mathew, Belent Mathew graduated with a BSc in Mathematics from St Albert’s College, Ernakulam. He arrived in Canada in 2008 after spending 10 years working in Kuwait.

An active presence in student politics during his college days, Mathew was always considered a people’s person. After years in Human Resources Management in Kuwait and Canada, he set up a legal consultancy firm with his wife Teena a decade ago.

“Belent has always been keen on public service. He’s been an active presence in many Malayali forums in Canada like the Durham Malayalee Association, Toronto Malayalee Samajam and the Canadian Cochin Club. During the Covid pandemic, they did a lot of work serving the community,” his younger brother Trudy Mathew, who is a businessman in Ernakulam, told Onmanorama.

Belent Mathew’s association with the Conservative Party began when Andrew Scheer succeeded Stephen J Harper as party leader. During Erin O’Toole’s leadership, he emerged as a prominent campaign figure. Now, under Pierre Poilievre, he has become a key Malayali candidate in the party’s lineup.

 The recently merged constituency—home to 1,11,377 people—has a South Asian population of 19.48%. Though the seat has remained a Liberal stronghold for the past three terms, Mathew and his party are hoping to capitalise on anti-incumbency in this snap election. However, factors such as high US-imposed tariffs on Canada and the entry of Mark Carney—the new Liberal leader and vocal critic of US President Donald Trump—could pose challenges for the Conservatives.

Canada conducts federal elections every four years to choose Members of Parliament (MPs) for the House of Commons. The country is divided into 338 electoral districts or ridings, and the candidate with the most votes in each riding wins. The party that secures the most seats typically forms the government. The main federal parties include the Liberal Party, Conservative Party, New Democratic Party (NDP), Bloc Québécois and the Green Party.