As virtually everyone in the world knows by now, Prime Minister Trudeau was in India last week. After a week of sight-seeing and very little business, Trudeau clearly saw a lot of India, and by the end of the week it was clear that India had seen a little too much of Trudeau.
As the Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, my initial concerns about his trip were based on the very light (almost touristy) schedule and the lack of strategic focus for the trip. It seemed he was not focused on growing exports, investment and resolving current bi-lateral issues with an important friend and trade partner. The formal business agenda for the Prime Minister amounted to just half a day of meetings over the course of the week. Worse still, was the fact that he did not take the Trade Minister or Agriculture Minister on his delegation despite the fact that food exports are critical to Canada’s trade with India and the fact that the most pressing bi-lateral issue at the moment relates to recent increases to Indian tariffs on chickpeas.
The Prime Minister’s trip was not focused on trade, security or areas of mutual concern with the government of India. These issues were clearly secondary to the domestic Canadian politics at the heart of his visit. I fully believe that an official Canadian state visit should leverage the goodwill and expertise of the diaspora community in Canada and political leaders with strong connections to a country, but these domestic components should not be the entire focus of the visit. As the week went on, and the Prime Minister’s costume changes and dancing ahead of a speech began to draw ridicule from the local media and elected officials in India, it was clear that the trip was not about Canada’s national interests at all, but rather about the interests of the Liberal party.
While it is easy to make light of some of the photos, celebrity chefs or global headlines comparing Trudeau’s trip to a “slow-moving train wreck” , the diplomatic and security incident that took place near the end of the trip is extremely serious and sent shockwaves around the world. A Canadian citizen, Jaspal Atwal, who had been convicted of trying to murder an Indian politician on Canadian soil was invited to events as part of the Canadians participating in the state visit. The Prime Minister needs to clearly explain how this security and protocol breach happened and take responsibility for it.
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The blame game being played by the Prime Minister and his office following the Atwal incident is even more concerning than the breach itself. First, they pointed fingers at the High Commissioner, but they were simply hosting events for the government, so that didn’t work. Then, they tried to blame a Liberal MP for including Mr. Atwal on the guest list, but it quickly emerged that the Prime Minister has known Mr. Atwal personally for many years and that excuse looked shaky. Finally, out came the tin-foil hats and a conspiracy theory was woven by the Prime Minister’s Office that suggested the Indian government somehow placed Mr. Atwal on Trudeau’s guest list to undermine the visit. This fanciful story was not spun by some creative media advisor on Trudeau’s spin team, but it appears to have been suggested to the media by the National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister. It appears that Trudeau’s office is willing to sully the reputation of a respected civil servant as part of damage control from the trip.
When the Prime Minister travels abroad he represents all Canadians. Negative headlines, diplomatic incidents and other faux pas that arise from his actions, or the decisions of his office, reflect poorly on all Canadians. Last week our Prime Minister embarrassed Canada and set back Canada-India relations in the process. His desperate attempts to, once again, avoid responsibility for his mistakes and lay blame elsewhere is eroding relations with India even further. The Prime Minister needs to finally look in the mirror and start taking responsibility for his actions. Canada – and now the world – is watching.
