It's generally agreed that Justin Trudeau's recent trip to India was an abject failure. An invitation to a convicted would be assassin was the original cause of Trudeau's problems. But his continuing attempts to blame others have only made matters worse. Tim Harper writes:
First, Trudeau fingered the man who is said to have invited him, British Columbia Liberal backbencher Randeep Sarai who took a minor fall Tuesday evening following a meeting with the prime minister.
In resigning as chair of the Liberal Pacific caucus, Sarai said he wanted “to again apologize for my role in recent unfortunate events. Moving forward, I will be exercising better judgment.’’
But that explanation didn't fly:
So the Trudeau government aimed a bit higher.
It trotted out a senior official with the explanation that factions within the Indian government conspired to get Atwal to the events to embarrass a Canadian government thought to be too close to Sikh separatists.
Trudeau would have you believe the official, his security advisor Daniel Jean, is some type of independent truth teller who had to get the information out to Canadians without any involvement of Trudeau’s office.
Monday, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, perhaps the most trusted hand in Trudeau’s cabinet, shot down the conspiracy theory in Trudeau’s absence.
The next day, Trudeau had a different story, saying “When one of our top diplomats and security officials says something to Canadians, it is because they know it to be true.”
He largely maintained that stance Wednesday, repeating his trust and belief in his security officials.
This after a spokesperson for India’s external affairs minister called Trudeau’s claim “baseless and unacceptable’’ and flatly denied that the India government or its security agencies had anything to do with Atwal’s presence or invitation to any of Trudeau’s events.
A simple, "We screwed up" would have caused a backlash. But that backlash would have been replaced by backlash to the budget.
Trudeau keeps pouring gasoline on the fire.
Image: Media Waves Facebook Page
