More trouble for Trudeau India trip over invitation error
The stunning oversight that allowed a man convicted of attempted murder to be invited to a party in New Delhi with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is rocking Canada’s ties with India just as the government is trying to boost trade in Asia.
The fiasco has left relations between the two countries at an all-time low, said one former Liberal cabinet minister, while other observers call it proof the government must jettison the photo ops in traditional Indian clothing in favour of a more serious foreign policy stance.
Ujjal Dosanjh, a former Liberal health minister, ex-premier of British Columbia and onetime provincial attorney general, accused his old federal party of being too close to Sikh separatists even before Trudeau’s arrival Sunday in India.
Inviting Jaspal Atwal to a reception, however, was the last straw, Dosanjh suggested. Atwal was convicted of attempting to kill Indian cabinet minister Malkiat Singh Sidhu on Vancouver Island in 1986. He was also charged, but not convicted, in connection with a 1985 attack on Dosanjh, a staunch opponent of the Sikh separatist movement’s push for an independent state of Khalistan. “Mr. Trudeau can perhaps salvage our relationship (with India), but I think it hit rock bottom with this,’’ Dosanjh said in an interview Thursday.
“It was already sliding downwards from the moment they got to India.’’
Trudeau’s office said the invitation was a mistake and was rescinded as soon as Atwal was discovered on the guest list. However, He showed up at a reception earlier in the week in Mumbai and was photographed with Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, the prime minister’s wife.
Dosanjh said he couldn’t believe what he was seeing when he saw the photograph.
“I don’t particularly want the man punished again, but it was disbelief that he would be able to associate with a reception in Mumbai,’’ said Dosanjh. “How could the RCMP, how could the PMO, how could the high commissioner — how could all three of them — be blind to this?’’
Atwal was added to the guest list by British Columbia MP Randeep Sarai, one of 14 MPs in India with Trudeau. Sarai has acknowledged he should have used better judgment. Either the RCMP dropped the ball in properly vetting the guest list, or they were given a false name that didn’t raise a flag, said David Hyde, a Torontobased security and risk management specialist.
“To me, it’s pretty unconscionable that it would happen.’’ The incident is embarrassing for the prime minister, said Chris Mathers, a security consultant who helped protect 24 Sussex Drive as a young Mountie when Trudeau’s father held office.
But Sarai didn’t help matters by independently inviting Atwal to the reception.
“If the members of Parliament themselves are working at cross-purposes to the security services, how are we supposed to prevent stuff like this?’’
The incident raises questions about the ability of Trudeau’s office to plan and execute a foreign trip, said David Mulroney, a career public servant who served as a foreign policy adviser to former prime minister Stephen Harper.
“We shouldn’t be sending the prime minister into situations that are uncertain and where the visit is consumed by the drama of whether something that should have been predictable happens or not. That’s happening too much.’’ Mulroney, a former Canadian ambassador to China, recalled Trudeau’s December trip to the People’s Republic, where he faced criticism for being unable to announce the start of formal free trade talks.