Did Canada’s pre-election politics spark Justin Trudeau’s remarks on the farmers’ protest in India?
by Hindustan Times, Toronto
Politics ahead of possible mid-term elections in Canada in
the spring of 2021 may have been the reason behind Canadian Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau’s comments on India’s farm laws that could cause bilateral ties
to reset back to the lows of 2017.
An Indian official said the remarks during a virtual event
were a “setback” given that the relationship had warmed in preceding months
after Trudeau returned to power in October 2019, though as the leader of a
minority government.
Canada foreign ministry, Global Affairs Canada, had been in
touch with India on the farm legislations and their necessity had been
conveyed over multiple conversations.
In fact, New Delhi expected the matter to be raised in
Canada’s House of Commons and was prepared for foreign minister
Francoise-Philippe Champagne’s response that the concerns had been made clear.
However, an official pointed out that Trudeau “escalated”
the matter by raising it unprompted during a Facebook live event to celebrate
the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak.
The event was to be private and was closed to media, but the
video was placed in the public domain, causing damage to the relationship akin
to Trudeau’s appearance at a social event in Toronto in 2017, where
pro-Khalistan flags and banners were waved and Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and
the assassins of Indira Gandhi featured on floats participating in the
accompanying parade.
“It was not inadvertent,” Vishnu Prakash, former Indian High
Commissioner to Ottawa, said of Trudeau’s comments. He said for the Canadian
PM, it was the “primacy” of the vote bank that appeared to matter “without much
regard for the relationship”.
There is a possibility that Canada may be headed for snap
elections next year, which could have been part of Trudeau's calculation.
New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh had already made a
strident statement on the farm laws and Conservative leader Erin O’Toole
released a video of his party’s support for “peaceful protests”.
The latter came before Trudeau’s appearance at the virtual
event. With all three parties competing for the Sikh vote, which is critical in
ensuring a majority in the House, he may not have wanted to lose the advantage
he has with the community, which has been holding protests in the suburbs of Toronto
and Vancouver on the issue.
Prakash described the outcome was “political opportunism”
and added, “Even if there’s competitive politics, a prime minister saying
something is different from what the opposition says.”
Months of improvement in the relationship during which the
two PMs have spoken and foreign ministers have been regularly in contact may
now be jeopardized.
“That’s a pity as a lot of effort has gone into it in the
last year and there was again hope for revival of the political relationship,”
Prakash said.
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