Andrew Scheer’s self-serving passage to India

As much as Andrew Scheer insists he travelled to India to serve the interests of Canada, his recent

Asian excursion was really about self-interest and serving his Conservative party.

From the start, the trip was a transparent ploy to favourably contrast Scheer with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose own botched tour of India in February provoked both laughter and embarrassment back home.

In August, Scheer announced with more than a touch of arrogance that he would travel to India to “repair and strengthen” bilateral ties in the aftermath of Trudeau’s Indian comedy of errors. How the Conservative leader, who wields no real, decision-making power in Parliament, could do this was never clear.

But then, this trip was contrived for optics more than substance. While Trudeau and his family raised bemused eyebrows in India and Canada by wearing glittering, traditional Indian garb that seemed more at home on a Bollywood set, Scheer favoured a natty business suit, presumably to show he meant business.

Although Trudeau had to wait six days before Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi deigned to meet with him, Scheer won an audience just two days after his arrival in the Indian capital.

And while Trudeau ignited a firestorm after someone on his team invited a convicted attempted assassin to two official receptions, Scheer enjoyed clear sailing over placid, Indian domestic seas.

Perhaps it’s unfair — and naive — to call out a politician for playing politics. With barely a year before the next federal election that could vault Scheer from Opposition leader to the Prime Minister’s Office, it’s reasonable for him to acquire a higher public profile and show what he’s capable of doing.

Travelling abroad to gather information and introduce himself to leaders he might someday meet with as Canada’s leader is also well within the job description of an Opposition leader.

That said, if Scheer didn’t cross over the line of what an Opposition leader should do on a foreign visit, he came dangerously close.

The Conservative leader said he told Modi he would prioritize a free trade deal with India if he became prime minister. That’s far more than Trudeau has committed to. As for Trudeau’s handling of the free trade negotiations with the United States, Scheer gleefully told Modi the new deal was inferior to the old one.

Scheer also said he would ship more Canadian oil to India, implicitly pointing an accusatory finger at Trudeau for not doing so.

It’s hard to know what Modi made of all this. He would not have concluded, however, that the Canadian federal leaders have a unified stand on

India or speak with one voice on the emerging superpower.

Instead, Modi could have been excused for thinking he’d met the representative of a parallel Canadian government. Scheer’s actions could, in fact, weaken Canada’s relations with India by undermining our prime minister and highlighting the divisions in this country, divisions Modi might seek to exploit.

Those weren’t Scheer’s only missteps. Like Trudeau before him, he can be accused of cynically using a foreign venture for domestic gains, not the least of which involves appealing to the large, Indian diaspora living in Canada.

Scheer might learn, however, that many members of the Indo-Canadian community dislike Modi’s government for it’s crackdowns on freedom, dissent and minorities. He should exercise greater care and wiser judgment on future sojourns overseas. Home may be the safest place.