The speaker of Canada’s senate won’t be attending a Group of 20 event hosted by India this week as diplomatic relations between the two countries remain tense, according to a Bloomberg report. Raymonde Gagne bowed out of the two-day parliamentary speakers’ summit starting Friday, Oct. 13, in New Delhi, a spokesperson for her office confirmed.
Two Indian officials confirmed Gagne won’t be at the summit, adding that no reason was given for her non-attendance.
Om Birla, speaker of the lower house of India’s parliament, had told the media last week that Gagne had agreed to participate. It’s not clear if Canada will have any representation at the meeting.
Relations between the two countries have deteriorated since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau publicly accused the Indian government of playing a role in the assassination of a prominent Sikh leader in Canada. New Delhi has staunchly denied any involvement.
As tensions escalate, India asked again on Oct. 12 that Canada take “more seriously their international obligation to provide security” to Indian diplomats and premises in the country.
Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said Oct. 11 the two countries are still in discussion over India’s request that Canada reduce its diplomatic presence. India reportedly wants Canada to cut its number of diplomats in India by 66%, or by 41 from the existing 62 (GM Oct. 6, p. 1). Both countries expelled senior diplomats soon after Trudeau linked Indian agents with the assassination. India also suspended visa services for Canadians and issued an advisory warning its residents against traveling to Canada.
“Diplomacy is always better when conversations remain private, and that’s the approach I will continue to take when it comes to India,” said Joly.
Earlier, India’s High Commissioner to Australia Manpreet Vohra said in an interview with Bloomberg that the allegations have barely affected the South Asian nation’s diplomacy in the Indo-Pacific. He said Canada should lay out its evidence to back up its allegations.
Trudeau’s claims come at a time of major outreach by the Indian government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as the South Asian nation widens and deepens its diplomatic and economic footprint across the world as part of the rise of what is being called the Global South.