Dhaliwal was a firm supporter of Chrétien against Paul Martin's attempt to force the Liberal leader to retire.

Dhaliwal publicly denounced Martin's campaign team for this and criticized them for restricting access to Liberal Party membership forms.

When Chrétien announced his resignation, Dhaliwal briefly considered running in the 2003 Liberal leadership campaign, but decided against it.

After graduating from the University of British Columbia with a Bachelor of Commerce degree, he started a maintenance company out of his basement.

He became a self-made millionaire with diversified business interests including transportation, maintenance and real estate development.