’Trudeau’s incompetence has damaged relations...’: Canadian politician’s old video goes viral amid India-Canada row

Amid deteriorating ties between India and Canada with each passing day, an old video of Canada's then Opposition leader Andrew Scheer slamming Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has gone viral on social media platforms.

In a nearly 70-second video, Scheer can be heard launching a scathing attack on Trudeau and accusing him of damaging Canada's relations with the world's largest democracy and emerging power in Asia.

Scheer also slammed Trudeau on the floor of the House for levelling "baseless" allegations against India over the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

"Baseless and unacceptable, that’s how the Indian government described the Prime Minister’s bizarre theory that the death of a convicted terrorist is somehow the fault of agents working on behalf of the Indian government,” Scheer could be heard saying in the video as he targeted Trudeau.

The then opposition leader further insisted that Trudeau’s ‘incompetence’ has severely damaged Canada’s relations with the world’s largest democracy and an emerging power in Asia.

"Will the PM finally do the right thing and produce some kind of proof of his conspiracy theory,” Scheer asked Trudeau. Scheer was the Leader of the official Opposition between 2017 and 2022.

Mint could not independently verify the video. Many on social media claimed that the video was from 2018, while some said it was from 2023.

The video was doing the rounds as tensions between India and Canada escalated last week. India has strongly rejected all the allegations made by Ottawa in connection to the case relating to the killing of Nijjar, who was a designated terrorist in India.

New Delhi expelled Canadian Charge d'Affaires Stewart Wheeler and five other diplomats following Ottawa's fresh allegations of the Indian government's involvement in the killing of Sikh extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil last year. The Canadian diplomats left New Delhi on Friday evening.

India also recalled its High Commissioner and five more diplomats and they are also on their way back to India. The Canadian government had said the Indian diplomats were expelled from the country.

In 2018 too, Cheer had announced that he "will travel to India this October to repair and strengthen Canada’s relationship with India, the world’s largest democracy and one of its fastest-growing economies."