Is Trudeau making India the fall guy to shield China?

Mr Desperate would be the tag that captures the situation of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. His chips are down politically, with a chorus within his Liberal Party of Canada for his removal as its leader growing. On Wednesday, Trudeau testified before the panel probing foreign interference in Canadian elections of 2019 and 2021, which he won.
This is why the timing of the Trudeau administration’s conflict with India looks curious.
The Trudeau government has pushed Canada’s ties with India to a new low by naming Indian diplomats, including the Indian High Commissioner, as “persons of interest” in the probe into the murder of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
In the preliminary report on foreign interference released in May 2024, Canada’s Foreign Interference Commission identified China, Russia, Iran, India and Pakistan among countries that somehow tried to influence the outcomes of the polls in 2019 and 2021.
Interestingly, it said that China “stands out as a main perpetrator” of interference in those elections.
Both those elections were won by the Liberal Party of Canada, led by Justin Trudeau.
The preliminary report, however, concluded that the outcomes weren’t influenced by the interference of foreign players. A final report is expected by the end of the year.
Justin Trudeau resisted setting up the Foreign Interference Commission.
However, “mounting evidence of foreign interference” and “an extraordinary series of leaks by Canadian intelligence to the news media” forced Trudeau to set up the commission, reports The New York Times.
The inquiry has shown that Trudeau and his top officials “tended to minimise reports from Canadian intelligence and members of diaspora about direct and indirect attempts to meddle in Canadian affairs”, according to the NYT report.
Trudeau and his party have been wooing both Indian and Chinese immigrants. Non-citizens staying in Canada have also been allowed to vote in party elections, which ultimately shape national politics.
The lack of oversight in these party elections is what has been exploited by China to prop up candidates of its choice and deter those that it sees as anti-China.
The inquiry report said Han Dong, a Chinese-Canadian, was elected in 2019 with the help of China and its proxies. Han is from Trudeau’s Liberal Party.
In April, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) told the Foreign Interference Commission that the Chinese government “clandestinely and deceptively” interfered in both the 2019 and 2021 elections, according to the BBC.
The CSIS said activities of “proxy agents” in India “were centred on a small number of electoral districts”.
The report of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians submitted to the Canadian Prime Minister in March detailed why China was considered “the greatest foreign interference threat”.
“In its 2019 review of the Government Response to Foreign Interference, the Committee noted that the most significant perpetrators of foreign interference in Canada were the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Russian Federation, with the PRC representing the greatest foreign interference threat,” the report said.
The threat from China was persistent.
Even between September 1, 2018 and November 7, 2023, the report by Canadian parliamentarians said that China “remained the largest foreign interference threat to Canada, including to its democratic institutions and processes”.
Though it has been clear to Trudeau and his officials that China was the prime threat, it has been reported that they dithered in acting in such cases.
A New York Times report details one such instance.
It said Trudeau’s top aides, including Chief of Staff to the PM, Katie Telford, “were also on the defensive about the government’s handling of a request by Canadian intelligence for a warrant to spy on a Liberal Party power broker, Michael Chan, before the 2021 general election”.
Pro-China Chan is the deputy mayor of Markham city.
“While such warrants are usually signed within days, this request took 54 days before it was approved by the ministry of public safety. Mr Trudeau’s aides said they could not explain the delay,” the New York Times concluded.
Though China remains the biggest and persistent threat, Canada has chosen to train its guns at India.
Briefing the media on Monday (October 14), amid the diplomatic row, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Commissioner Mike Duheme accused Indian officials of “interference into democratic processes”.
As Justin Trudeau deposes before the Foreign Interference Commission, with China being the biggest threat, people are asking if the renewed attacks on India over the killing of a Khalistani terrorist are a diversionary tactic or an attempt to make India a fall guy to save China.