{"id":42381,"date":"2018-02-23T03:00:24","date_gmt":"2018-02-23T08:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/?p=42381"},"modified":"2018-02-22T22:00:57","modified_gmt":"2018-02-23T03:00:57","slug":"the-trudeaus-playing-mr-dressup-and-family-in-exotic-locations-on-the-taxpayers-dime-isnt-the-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/2018\/02\/23\/the-trudeaus-playing-mr-dressup-and-family-in-exotic-locations-on-the-taxpayers-dime-isnt-the-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"“…the Trudeaus playing ‘Mr Dressup and Family’ in exotic locations on the taxpayers’ dime isn\u2019t the problem”"},"content":{"rendered":"

The press is having a hard time presenting Justin Trudeau’s India trip in a positive light, which clearly pains the teeny-bopper Trudeau fan club that composes a large part of the Canadian media. Ted Campbell<\/a> sees the trip as a series of wasted opportunities to begin healing the breach between India and Canada:<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve taken my time in commenting on the prime minister\u2019s trip to India. To say that I\u2019m very disappointed is to put it mildly \u2026 I\u2019m disappointed and a little embarrassed to be a Canadian. But the Trudeaus playing \u201cMr Dressup and Family\u201d in exotic locations on the taxpayers\u2019 dime isn\u2019t the problem. We have, in fact, a serious problem as far as India is concerned and we, Canada, one of India\u2019s oldest and firmest friends is in danger of being seen as an adversary. That\u2019s a problem and it is, in my mind, a HUGE problem for Canada.<\/p>\n

As Vishnu Prakash, former Indian envoy to Canada, told<\/a> Indian news site The Print<\/em> on Monday, \u201c\u201cOver the years, the Canadian political establishment, across the spectrum (whether it is the NDP, Conservatives or Liberals) has been mollycoddling Khalistani elements. Under the Trudeau government, this has increased. He had himself appeared on a Khalistani platform in Toronto in April last year.\u201d It, the \u201cmollycoddling Khalistani elements,\u201d has been going on since at least the 1980s, back when Indira Ghandi\u2019s government cracked down (1984) and nearly provoked a civil war and even in 1985 when Air India flight 182 was bombed, almost certainly an attack organized by Canadians, in Canada, as retaliation. Then the governments of the day spent 20 years and over $100 million on an investigation that retired Supreme Court Justice John Major described as a \u201ccascading series of errors\u201d by the government, writ large, including, especially, the RCMP and CSIS. India was not impressed.<\/p>\n

India was less impressed when Canadian political parties began to actively court the Canadian the entire Indo-Canadian community but failed to condemn Sikh separatism. Canadians, including Brian Mulroney, Jean Chr\u00e9tien, Stephen Harper and Justin Trudeau have \u201cexplained,\u201d correctly, that people are allowed to support unpopular causes here in Canada, so long as they don\u2019t break our laws, but India, not unreasonably, given Canada\u2019s own history of separatist violence, would like something more. But the Sikh vote is active and \u201cefficient\u201d and all parties want it and that seems, to India, anyway, to mean turning a blind eye to the (disputed) fact<\/del> assertion that the Khalistan independence movement is centred in and funded from Canada \u2026 Prime Minister Trudeau made thing worse, according to The Hindu<\/em><\/a>, when \u201cOn April 30, [2017] Mr. Trudeau addressed a parade for \u2018Khalsa Day\u2019, which included floats glorifying Sikh militant leaders Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, Amreek Singh and former General Shahbeg Singh who were killed in the siege of the Golden Temple and Operation Bluestar in June 1984.\u201d That act appears to have crossed a line, leading to what the whole world<\/a> is now interpreting<\/a> as a major diplomatic snub<\/a> […]<\/p>\n

The big issue is not the rather gentlemanly snub of Justin Trudeau by India\u2019s highest officials; our prime minister appears more interested in having an all expenses paid vacation with his family than in doing the nation\u2019s business in any event; the real issue is the Canadian political actions that made it politically necessary for Prime Minister Modi to administer that snub at all.<\/p>\n

What Canada needs to do now is repair relations with India, and that may require Prime Minister Trudeau to look very, very closely at any ties any of his ministers may have with the Khalistan independence movement, he says there are none<\/a>, and either making them sever all ties with separatists or severing them from the Liberal cabinet, caucus and even the Party. Andrew Scheer needs to do the same with the Conservatives and Jagmeet Singh needs to speak out for national unity ~ if it\u2019s good for Canada then it\u2019s good for India, too. On this issue, at least, politics should indeed, stop at the water\u2019s edge<\/a>. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of course, when you allow things like this to happen, diplomacy becomes a much trickier profession than normal:<\/p>\n

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Sweet Mother of God. No family fashion photoshoot in Hello! magazine is going to fix this one. https:\/\/t.co\/rLvI7ip8Vh<\/a><\/p>\n

— Terry Glavin (@TerryGlavin) February 21, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n