Backdrop of the (once) great Indo-Canadian relationship

India and Canada have had a long relationship. The number of Indians, primarily among them Sikhs who have migrated to Canada is immense. Furthermore, hundreds (if not thousands) of Indian students opt to study in Canadian universities annually. Historically, even the 2 sovereign countries have had decent trade relationships with each other, one example of which is that Canada, being a large grower of pulses, had India as one of its biggest customers.

However, in the recent past, things haven’t been so good. And 2021 will make things worse.

Here’s a short story about how Justin Trudeau’s recent political opportunism will end up making things worse for the India-Canada relationship…

2015 – Mr Trudeau comes to power

So, in 2015, Justin Trudeau & Canada’s Liberal Party came to power after 12 yrs of Conservative rule, with a decent sized majority winning 184 seats in a house of 338 . I remember the global euphoria about the “good-looking young liberal who had defeated the bad & old conservatives” in Canada. I must admit that even I was hoping for good things from him, even though I didn’t really really hear any gravitas from him (nowhere close to the gravitas I had heard from Obama). Also, upon close scrutiny, one sees that it wasn’t like Mr Trudeau had had a brilliant career or some such before he became the Liberal Party’s leader but did have nepotism on his side.

2017 – the Khalistani-closeness starts

Then, just a couple of yrs into his governance, for reasons best known to him, there were signs of some rather strange ties between his Liberal Party and Khalistani separatists & extremists. One may have passed it off as domestic political pandering but this was more than that. It was active encouragement.
Link:
– https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/pm-trudeau-s-presence-at-event-with-khalistani-flags-upsets-india/story-s8fglhtSPyvKNz9OYyrcQJ.html

When India objected, the Canadian response was that these activities fell within Canada’s ‘freedom of speech’ principles. 🤷🏻‍♂️
Link – https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/justin-trudeau-canadian-pm-pm-modi-khalistan-jarnail-singh-bhindranwale-g20-summit-hamburg-1023292-2017-07-09

2018 – JT’s DISASTROUS trip to India

This pandering to radical Khalistani separatists has caused a lot of trouble for him over the years, including during his visit to India in 2018, when he was publicly rebuked by then Punjab Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh who called the then Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan (who was part of Trudeau’s delegation) a ‘Khalistani sympathiser’. Trudeau was also delivered a polite diplomatic version of an insult by PM Modi who met him just once during his visit and engaged in none of the usual fanfare & bonhomie which PM Modi has indulged in, with various other heads of state.
Here are some media links about this:
– https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/khalistan-becomes-an-issue-between-india-and-canada/article22799232.ece
– https://www.wionews.com/india-news/why-justin-trudeaus-trip-to-india-in-2018-turned-out-to-be-a-diplomatic-fiasco-346771
– https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2018/02/22/trudeaus-india-trip-is-a-total-disaster-and-he-has-himself-to-blame/
– https://m.economictimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/why-justin-trudeaus-india-tour-turned-out-to-be-a-diplomatic-disaster/articleshow/63059621.cms

Even the meeting between PM Modi & PM Trudeau had to be kept in abeyance and was agreed to ONLY after PM Trudeau met Punjab CM Capt. Amarinder Singh and accepted a dossier from Capt of the most-wanted Khalistani terrorists in Canada and asked for them to be handed over to India.
Link – https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/amarinders-terror-list-to-trudeau-details-of-5-deadly-handlers/articleshow/63059588.cms

Of course, none of them were handed over.

On top of all this, the Canadians made things worse, when they invited Jaspal Atwal, a member of the banned International Sikh Youth Federation, who was convicted for trying to kill Punjab Cabinet minister Malkiat Singh Sidhu in Vancouver Island in 1986, to an official event hosted by PM Trudeau during the India trip. The pictures of Sophie Trudeau & Atwal together, which appeared in the media, painted a horrible picture and made things worse.
Link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/jaspal-atwal-invite-dinner-sophie-1.4545881

This trip was probably the worst that Indo-Canadian relationship could get. And I’m not even talking about all the jokes & memes that were made of the outfits Mr Trudeau wore during his visit…

2019 – Electoral problems for JT and his Khalistani-love increases, becomes official state policy

Then, in the 2019 Canadian elections, The Liberal Party dropped to 157 seats, becoming up a minority government with the support of the NDP.

Now, calling the NDP the overground political arm of the Khalistani separatists won’t be a stretch. Their leader Jagmeet Singh has, more than once, openly voiced his support for Khalistani separatists in Canada and has even attended one of their rallies.
Links
– https://www.newindianexpress.com/world/2019/oct/20/why-india-wont-be-rooting-for-jagmeet-singh-becoming-the-next-canada-pm-2050109.html
– https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/jagmeet-singh-sikh-independence-rally-1.4575762
– https://www.dnaindia.com/world/report-see-jagmeet-singh-canada-khalistan-terrorists-instagram-rapper-pro-khalistan-indira-gandhi-1984-2594431

So the question that all Indians have is – with the NDP being an official part of the Canadian government, is support to the Khalistani separatist movement an official policy stance of the Canadian government???

It is important to note that at no stage has Jagmeet Singh even disavowed the Khalistanis, forget opposing them. Infact, signs to the contrary began to appear where support for Khalistani separatism within Canada increased. Here are a couple of articles about Jagmeet being a fundraiser for the Khalistanis and how the NDP & ISI were seeding the Khalistani movement:
– https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/canadas-top-dem-leader-jagmeet-a-fundraiser-for-terror-outfits-intel/1648643
– https://zeenews.india.com/world/canada-becomes-a-seedbed-for-khalistanis-watered-by-canadian-government-nurtured-by-isi-2336203.html

2020 and JT’s HORRIBLE opportunism

So its 2020 now, and the Wuhan virus hits us all. The pandemic runs riot globally with all governments releasing millions of dollars in aid & payouts to its citizens to enable them to survive the economic downturn caused by the lockdowns.

So does Canada…

And therein emerges the political opportunism of PM Justin Trudeau. At a time when his country was haemorrhaging millions of dollars just to support its citizens, he was actually thinking about how to use this situation to his benefit politically. It’s rather cruel, but given that he is a politician, it is fair game, I guess…

So, in an attempt to augment his political power and try to win back a majority, he calls for early snap elections, halfway through his current tenure (which would otherwise end in 2023). This election ended up costing Canada 610mn$ (Canada’s GDP in 2019 was 1.8tn$).

Can you imagine how horrible it is to spend an additional 610mn$ at a time when there is already so much money flowing out of your country’s coffers, just because you want more power than you already have??? Ugh!!!

Anyway, after all this, the result was still NOTHING…. As bearly every single party won exactly the same number of seats as earlier, with a +/- of 2-4 seats over the 2019 elections.

And the conversation around this election has been rather critical…
Links:
– https://edition.cnn.com/2021/09/20/americas/canada-election-results-trudeau-o-toole-intl/index.html
– https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/federal-election-2021/early-election-gamble-backfires-here-s-a-look-at-some-international-headlines-day-after-canada-election-1.5594167
– https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/21/world/canada/election-results.html
– https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/waste-money-canadians-lament-c612-million-election-that-changed-little-2021-09-21/

Honestly, so much money being spent for so little change, is possibly second only to what the US have done in Afghanistan. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Not only that, but the NDP getting almost the same number of seats as earlier has emboldened them further. The Liberal Party continues in a minority government, supported by the NDP, except the Liberal Party is now even more beholden to the NDP now, whose leader supports terrorists who want the breaking up of India.

2020-21 and Canada’s ridiculous meddling in India’s internal affairs

For reasons best known to him and either to showcase his ultra-liberalism or to continue to pander to his political allies, Mr Trudeau gets embroiled in an unnecessary issue about the ‘farmers protests’ happening in India. Now, this ‘protest’ has nothing to do with his country (or does it?)(see para as under as to how Canada would suffer if Indian agriculture diversifies), so he really had no business showing ‘support’, but I guess he had his reasons… And that ended up with him pissing off a vast major number of Indians in addition to the Indian government, even more.

Not just that but his position on these protests and the position that Canada has taken in the WTO against Indian agriculture is a 180 turn, showcasing the worst kind of hypocrisy

2022 & the truckers

And now that Canada’s truckers are protesting against his vaccine mandates & other things (their reasons for protest are too many to list here), he has been name-calling them, abusing them and accusing them of things like violence, racism, vandalism, anarchy, etc etc – the very same things that were done by the ‘protestors’ in India who he was ‘supporting’ in 2020-21, under his ‘freedom of expression’ and ‘freedom to protest’ tropes.

Blog Update on Feb 19: The ruthlessness of Justin Trudeau’s politics is out there for all to see. He’s now not even trying to disguise his ‘power by any means’ goal, even invoking the Emergency. He has been getting a social media shellacking from Canadians, Indians & the world while the ‘international mafia media’ gives him a free pass to trample over Canadians (literally). I hope this makes him sit up and introspect on his hypocrisy and slide down the cesspool of despicable politics, but I doubt it will.

Trudeau’s dictatorial tendencies which are on display now aren’t a surprise to me actually. Indians had already had a glimpse of them when he got into bed with Khalistani terrorists and their overground workers, just to remain in power. Now Canadians and the world are seeing it too…

In Conclusion

I don’t know what Canadians think about their PM’s behaviour towards India and his alliance with the NDP and I honestly don’t care but unless a clear stand is taken by the Trudeau government against the NDP, its leader & against Khalistani terrorists, Indo-Canadian relations will only get WORSE.

P.S.
Here are a couple of videos which deconstruct the stark hypocrisy of ‘good-boy’ Justin Trudeau.