Atwal fiasco dogs Trudeau; PM pledges a ‘conversation’ with MP responsible
NEW DELHI — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau flatly denied Friday ever raising the spectre of Quebec separatism in a meeting with state leaders in India, and promised a “conversation” with the Liberal MP who has claimed responsibility for inviting a failed assassin to a pair of high-level receptions.
That said, his ongoing trip to India has been and continues to be “excellent,” Trudeau insisted as he did his level best to tamp down persistent talk of an exercise in international relations that has gone utterly off the rails.
His first question, in French, was about media reports based on a summary from the Punjab government of a meeting Wednesday with Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh. It said Trudeau cited “the separatist movement in Quebec” in saying “he had dealt with such threats all his life and was fully aware of the dangers of violence, which he had always pushed back with all his might.”
“The reports are false; I said nothing of the sort,” Trudeau told the news conference.