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39% Canadians feel Justin Trudeau mishandled ties with India: Survey
The ties between India and Canada worsened in October after Ottawa named Indian envoy among ‘persons of interest’ in its probe into Hardeep Nijjar's killing
Nearly 40 per cent of Canadians feel that the Justin Trudeau government was not handling their country's bilateral relationship with India, which is at an all-time low in recent months, a survey has claimed.
The survey was carried out by the non-profit Angus Reid Institute (ARI) in partnership with the Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada (APF) Canada.
According to the survey, 39 per cent of Canadidans felt the Trudeau government was not handling the relations well as compared to 32 per cent who thought the opposite.
The survey claimed that 39 per cent of the Canadians felt there will be no improvement in relations between India and Canada under Trudeau.
At least 34% of Canadians felt about the future of the bilateral relationship under India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
India-Canada bilateral relations
The relations between India and Canada deteriorated last September when Justin Trudeau alleged before Canadian parliament that Indian government agents were involved in the murder of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was gunned down in Surrey on June 18, 2023.
In October, the ties between both the countries nosedived after Canadian authorities named Indian high commissioner Sanjay Verma and other diplomats as “persons of interest” in its probe into Nijjar's killing.
Rejecting Canada's act, India withdrew its high commissioner and expelled six Canadian diplomats.
Last month, a Canadian official alleged that Union home minister Amit Shah ordered a campaign of violence, intimidation and intelligence-gathering targeting pro-Khalistani extremists inside Canada.
Canada's deputy foreign affairs minister David Morrison told Parliament members of the national security committee that he had confirmed Shah’s name to The Washington Post, which first reported the allegations.
New Delhi condemned Canada's allegation as “absurd and baseless”.
“The Government of India protests in the strongest terms to the absurd and baseless references made to the Union Home Minister of India,” Randhir Jaiswal, a ministry of external affairs spokesperson said on November 2.
Jaiswal also said a Canadian diplomat in New Delhi was summoned on Friday and handed out a letter to formally protest the allegation. “Such irresponsible actions will have serious consequences for bilateral ties,” he warned.
