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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is likely to step aside from his role as Liberal Party head and Canadian PM and pave the way for a leadership contest.
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is an isolated figure in his own party with many MPs demanding his resignation as Conservatives race ahead in polls. (IMAGE: AFP)
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faced some of the biggest challenges of his political career in 2024. While he was facing a rebellion from within his own party, the Liberals, his tussle with the Indian government, accusing its officials for allegedly ordering the murder of a Khalistani separatist.
The tussle began in mid-2023 when Trudeau first alleged, without proof, that Indian officials were allegedly involved in the murder of Khalistani separatist-terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a designated terrorist in India.
He also reached out to the US and the Five Eyes (an intelligence alliance consisting of the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) while later claiming that if he had gone public with the allegations before June 2023, it would have made for a “very uncomfortable G20 Summit” which India was hosting in New Delhi.
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The accusations followed tit-for-tat diplomat expulsions from New Delhi and Ottawa as Indian officials termed Trudeau’s allegations as “baseless, absurd and motivated”.
Foreign minister S Jaishankar on several occasions in 2023 as well as 2024 said that the Canadian government did not pay heed to Indian officials when they warned them about Khalistani separatists who threatened India’s sovereignty, funded crime in India and had ties to Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence, the nation’s spy agency.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself conveyed strong concerns about protests in Canada against India to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi in September 2023.
However, Trudeau and his government pressed on with their allegations without sharing any evidence as Ottawa’s clash with New Delhi continued as 2024 began.
Because Liberals didn’t hold an outright majority in the Parliament, they had for years depended on the support of the leftist New Democratic Party (NDP) to pass legislation and stay in power.
The NDP’s Jagmeet Singh, despite being a supporter of the Khalistan cause, kept getting Trudeau’s support one several issues but he was backstabbed by the Sikh Canadian later.
The leader of the small leftist party, declared in December that he would join with other opposition parties to topple Trudeau’s minority government early 2025.
Diplomat Expulsions, Temple Attacks And Khalsa Day
The Trudeau government and his centre-left leaning Liberals were also facing pressure from the electorate over price rise and inflation. The latest resignations of his ministers towards the end of 2024 over his response to US President-elect Donald Trump’s tariff threats could have accelerated his exit but Canadians angered over immigration and possible sheltering of criminal elements (Khalistani separatists) in the country for possible vote bank politics angered the right and conservative-leaning Canadians.
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Members of his own party, like Indian-origin MP from Nepean Chandra Arya (once a backer of Trudeau), gave several warnings over crimes by Khalistani separatists where Hindus were attacked and their temples defaced in Canada but those fell on deaf ears.
Sources speaking to News18 said that the Trudeau government was a moot spectator when Hindus outside Hindu Sabha Mandir in Canada were attacked.
In the beginning of 2024, Trudeau even attended a Khalsa Day event where anti-India slogans were chanted.
The relationship between New Delhi and Ottawa entered its worst phase in October 2024 when Canada expelled six Indian diplomats including the High Commissioner, linking them to the murder of Nijjar and alleged that the Indian government was targeting Indian dissidents in Canada.
India retaliated by ordering the expulsion of six high-ranking Canadian diplomats including the acting High Commissioner and said it had withdrawn its envoy from Canada, contradicting Canada’s statement of expulsion.
In the meantime, the Conservatives led by Pierre Poilievre (who is current favourite to be Canada’s next prime minister) started demanding evidence from the Trudeau government of Indian involvement in Nijjar’s murder, wary that his rival’s gung-ho approach to relations with India and the Khalistani issue could spoil long-term India-Canada ties.
