Conservatives want answers over Atwal meeting

Atwal fiasco dogs Trudeau; PM pledges a ‘conversation’ with MP responsible

NEW DELHI — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau flatly denied Friday ever raising the spectre of Quebec separatism in a meeting with leaders in India, and promised a “conversation” with the Liberal MP who claimed responsibility for inviting a failed assassin to a pair of high-level receptions.

That said, his ongoing trip to India has been and continues to be “excellent,” Trudeau insisted as he did his level best to tamp down persistent talk of an exercise in international relations that has gone utterly off the rails.

His first question, in French, was about media reports based on a summary from the Punjab government of a meeting Wednesday with Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh. It said Trudeau cited “the separatist movement in Quebec” in saying “he had dealt with such threats all his life and was fully aware of the dangers of violence, which he had always pushed back with all his might.”

“The reports are false; I said nothing of the sort,” Trudeau told the news conference.

“On the contrary, I have always said I’m very proud of the lessons Canada and Quebec have to share on differences of opinion shared in peaceful ways and pluralism and diversity that is positive for our community.”

From there, the questions turned to the saga of Jaspal Atwal, the convicted failed assassin who was invited to a pair of receptions with the prime minister and was even photographed with Sophie Gregoire Trudeau — a fiasco for which Liberal backbencher Randeep Sarai has accepted full responsibility.

“The situation was unacceptable; this individual never should have been invited,” he said. “The MP responsible has taken responsibility, and I will be having a conversation with that MP in Canada next week.”

Atwal was convicted in the 1980s of attempting to kill an Indian cabinet minister who was travelling in Canada.

Earlier Friday, in a telephone briefing arranged by the Prime Minister’s Office, a government official suggested that Atwal’s presence was linked to factions within the Indian government who refuse to believe there is no risk posed to a united India by Sikh separatists living abroad.

The official says those factions are trying to prevent Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government from getting too cosy with foreign governments they believe want to undermine a united India.

Despite all of that, however, Trudeau was sticking to his message.

“This has been an excellent trip that has been an opportunity to deepen people-to-people ties, highlight the deep friendship on political, cultural and business levels between India and Canada,” he said.

“This is something that we’re continuing to work on, obviously the business announcements we made of $1 billion in back-and-forth investments, of close to 6,000 jobs created in Canada has been the focus of this week for us.”

During Friday’s telephone briefing, the official said Atwal has, since his conviction, been on a list of people banned by India from getting a visa to visit the country because of their ties to Sikh separatist and extremist groups but that he was suddenly removed from that blacklist last summer.

Canada played no part in getting Atwal off the list, said the official.