'Canada Dry': Trudeau Gets No Sympathy Back Home, as Media And Rivals Play Up Snub by India

After facing some tough talk from India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau is now facing a backlash at home over being snubbed at the G20 Leaders Summit in New Delhi. On Sunday, Canada’s leading newspaper Toronto Sun published a front page with the headline ‘This Way Out’, with Modi gesturing to Trudeau to move ahead after a customary handshake at Raj Ghat. The newspaper said Trudeau finds he has few friends at the G20 summit in India.

In another report by the same newspaper, it was mentioned that “Trudeau skipped Modi’s leaders’ dinner the night before, with the Prime Minister’s Office refusing to say why”. It added that Trudeau also missed the launch of the Global Biofuels Alliance, a partnership to make progress on rolling out cleaner, greener fuels. “Trudeau said he had other work,” the news report further said.

Compounding his problems, Trudeau’s plane also failed to take off, stranding the Canadian delegation in Delhi for 24 hours, and a replacement aircraft is now on its way to take them home.

Canada’s opposition leader who is in the running to be the PM, Pierre Poilievre posted the Toronto Sun front page on social media site X and said: “Putting partisanship aside, no one likes to see a Canadian prime minister repeatedly humiliated and trampled upon by the rest of the world.”

News18 had earlier reported how Trudeau was not granted a bilateral meeting by India despite his request and he only got a pull-aside chat with the Indian Prime Minister. Foreign news agencies like Reuters and Bloomberg reported that Trudeau got a “scolding” and “criticism” from Prime Minister Modi during their talks, which was also carried by Canadian newspapers.

PM Modi did not post any “welcome note” like for other leaders after the Canadian PM landed in India. This was following tensions in diplomatic relations between India and Canada over the Khalistani issue.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi talked tough in his meeting with Trudeau, telling him in clear terms that continuing anti-India activities in Canada are an issue of “strong concern”. Canada continued to maintain that it would protect the right of “peaceful protests” in its territory by the Indian diaspora.

The Canadian PM later upped the ante saying he raised the issue of “interference of India in Canada’s affairs” with PM Modi during their pull-aside meet.

The Indian statement said Modi conveyed India’s strong concerns about continuing anti-India activities of extremist elements in Canada. “They are promoting secessionism and inciting violence against Indian diplomats, damaging diplomatic premises, and threatening the Indian community in Canada and their places of worship,” India’s statement said.