- India’s foreign ministry issues terse two-line statement in response.
- Trudeau claims having names of some Conservative parliamentarians.
- Ottawa could take further steps to ensure Canadians’ security, he says.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has termed India’s alleged interference in Canada a “horrific mistake”, thinking it could act in the aggressive manner like it did in the country’s sovereignty.
The premier’s remarks came on Wednesday, just two days after his government sent home the Indian diplomats who allegedly had links to the murder of a Sikh separatist leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in Canada, also alleging a broader effort to target Indian dissidents in the country.
These were some of the strongest statements that have been delivered by Trudeau since this dispute between Ottawa and New Delhi began last year — causing a massive dip in bilateral ties between the two countries.
“The Indian government made a horrific mistake in thinking that they could interfere as aggressively as they did in the safety and sovereignty of Canada,” he told an independent probe into foreign interference in Canadian politics.
In response, India’s foreign ministry issued a terse two-line statement, saying Trudeau’s deposition confirmed New Delhi’s stand that Canada had provided no evidence to support its allegations against Indian diplomats.
“The responsibility for the damage that this cavalier behaviour has caused to India-Canada relations lies with Prime Minister Trudeau alone,” the foreign ministry statement said.
Trudeau said Ottawa could take further steps to ensure Canadians’ security but declined to give details.
India denies the allegations of interference and has expelled six Canadian diplomats in a tit-for-tat move.
Members of Conservative Party likely ‘involved in foreign interference’
Meanwhile, Trudeau — while addressing the independent commission — also said that some members of the official opposition Conservative Party could be involved in foreign interference and alleged the party was not taking the matter seriously.
Polls show the Conservatives would easily beat Trudeau’s Liberals in the next election, which must be held by end-October 2025.
“I have the names of a number of parliamentarians, former parliamentarians and or candidates in the Conservative Party … who are engaged, or are at high risk of, or for whom there is clear intelligence around foreign interference,” Trudeau said.
A few seconds later he appeared to temper his comments, saying the intelligence about Conservative activities could be “shoddy or incomplete or just allegations from a single source”.
He did not give further details.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has declined to apply for the security clearance needed to read all the intelligence uncovered by the probe, on the grounds this would prevent him from commenting on the public proceedings.
Trudeau said he had asked the Canadian Security Intelligence Service spy agency to warn Poilievre about Conservative members who could be vulnerable.
