Canadian politics has been sinking deeper into sinkhole

By now you’ve no doubt read how a convicted Canadian Sikh terrorist Jaspal Atwal was invited to dinner with Prime Minister Trudeau and would have been a guest had it not been for my colleague Candice Malcolm and CBC’s Terry Milewski breaking the story.

But Atwal was not the only openly pro-Khalistani Canadian on the trip.

Meet Manvir Singh Saini, who was part of Trudeau’s media delegation and accompanied him to all official events and did attend the dinner from where Atwal was uninvited.

Saini, who claims to work for a BC TV channel, was seen in 2015 protesting against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was visiting Canada at the time. Saini held a banner that referred to the Indian prime minister as “Terrorist” and others that said “Modi you are not welcome in Canada” and “India out of Khalistan.”

What is worth noting is that not a single member of the large contingent of Sikh MPs who accompanied Trudeau raised any alarm at the presence Atwal and Saini and their antiIndia, pro- Khalistan views.

Trudeau has now left India for home, ending a family vacation that at times was a state visit that may very well go down as the most disastrous exercise in diplomacy in Canadian history.

Visiting India with a focus solely on one community and province was clear evidence that every stop taken was targeted at securing one particular ethnic vote- bank in Canada. This is all now in play because of the NDP’s Jagmeet Singh. Over the years, Canadian politics has been sinking deeper and deeper into the sinkhole of ‘ identity politics’ where not just riding nominations can be grabbed, but entire political parties can be hijacked.

It was not just Trudeau’s soft approach towards Sikh extremists and his inability to ‘ condemn’ or denounce the Khalistan terrorist movement that would disqualify him as prime minister.

Barkha Dutt, one of India’s outstanding journalists ripped into the Canadian prime minister in Thursday’s Washington Post: “Trudeau has come across as flighty and facetious. His orchestrated dance moves and multiple costume changes in heavily embroidered kurtas and sherwanis make him look more like an actor on a movie set or a guest at a wedding than a politician who is here to talk business. Suddenly, all that charisma and cuteness seem constructed, manufactured and, above all, not serious.”

Dutt concluded her stinging piece with this parting advice: “So next time you come to India, Prime Minister Trudeau, do try and leave the terrorists — and the wedding kurtas — at home.”

All Trudeau had to do to make his state visit a success was to utter the following six words: “Canada denounces the Khalistan movement.”