Editorial: Icarus’ cold snap

After nearly a decade in power, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeauannounced hisresignationearlier this week. The second-youngest PM in the nation's history, Trudeau channelled the star power, if not the political heft, of his father. However, he was compelled to step down due to rising discontent over his leadership, and growing turmoil within his government, signalled by the abrupt departure of his finance minister, Chrystia Freeland. Trudeau, who happens to be the latest incumbent to be driven out amidst a political landscape of rising voter dissatisfaction worldwide, plans to stay on as prime minister until a new leader of the Liberal Party is chosen.

The impending change of guard in Ottawa is being closely monitored by New Delhi, considering the damage done to the relationship shared between the two nations, over the duration of Trudeau's regime. When Trudeau came to power in 2015 after 10 years of Conservative Party rule, his Liberal Party had gained strong support from Canada's large Sikh diaspora, including groups associated with the Khalistan movement. In 2018, during Trudeau's India visit, Jaspal Atwal, who was convicted in a 1986 assassination attempt of a visiting Punjab minister in Canada, was invited to official events by Trudeau's entourage. Owing to diplomatic tensions between the two countries, the invite to the Delhi event was rescinded.

The Canadian leader found himself in India’s crosshairs once again in 2020, when he backed the rights of the farmers to a peaceful protest. New Delhi took exception to his remarks, which it classified as interference in domestic affairs. Fissures between the two countries were laid bare in September last year when Trudeau told the Parliament that Canada was pursuing credible allegations linking Indian government agents with the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen and a pro-Khalistan activist in Surrey, British Columbia, who was designated as a terrorist by India. A barrage of tit for tat diplomatic expulsions by the two countries followed in the wake of the allegations.

The incident stoked the embers of the Khalistan movement as thousands of Sikhs in Surrey gathered at a gurdwara where Nijjar was killed, seeking in no unclear terms an unofficial referendum on an independent Sikh state. Other extremists professing loyalty to the fringe Khalistan movement, went on a rampage outside a temple in Brampton and even issued threats to airline operators. Trudeau's reliance on the Sikh vote bank to ensure his political survival sent bilateral ties between India and Canada to an all-time low. It's a deep laceration whose pains will be more pronounced in the days to come — for Canada is populated with as many as 1.8 mn Indo Canadians and a million NRIs, turning it into one of the largest desi diasporas outside of the US.

Trudeau’s lopsided liberal policies which paved the way for fast track immigration into the country ended up letting three million migrants land up in Canada over a period of three years, an unplanned relocation that placed immense pressure on the country’s public health infrastructure, welfare systems, housing, employment scene, and as the economy as a whole, leading to record numbers of unemployment and homelessness being reported. Not to mention, the upheaval comes at a time when US President-elect Trump has also threatened to impose 25% tariffs on all Canadian goods if Ottawa does not stem the flow of migrants and drugs into the US. Needless to say, the Conservative administration of Canada has its work cut out.