Justin Trudeau still stranded in India, Canadian Armed Forces’ backup plane en route: Report  

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is still in India and a backup plane and spare parts are en route to India for Trudeau. Trudeau is stranded in India along with the Canadian delegation after the plane they arrived in broke down. A backup plane and spare parts are en route to India for the Canadian G20 Summit 2023 delegation. The Canadian Prime Minister will either fly home on the backup plane or wait for the original plane to be repaired, Bloomberg reported citing a government official.

Canada’s Department of National Defence said that the maintenance problem involves a component that would have to be replaced. According to a statement from Canada PM’s office, however, the delegation led by Trudeau will likely depart from India on Tuesday late afternoon. "Their latest update shows an earliest possible departure of Tuesday late afternoon. The situation remains fluid," a statement from Trudeau’s office said.

On Sunday, Trudeau’s flight faced a technical snag while trying to depart from Delhi. The Canadian delegation for the G20 Summit will stay in India till the engineering team fixes the issue with the plane, an airport official said. Justin Trudeau had arrived in Delhi on September 8 along with his son Xavier to attend the G20 Summit 2023 from September 9-10. Upon landing, Trudeau was received by Union Minister of State Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

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Justin Trudeau’s G20 visit

When Trudeau leaves India, it will end a diplomatic visit that has been perceived as 'cold' by geopolitical experts. Trudeau skipped the G20 gala dinner for world leaders, according to reports in Canadian news outlets. Not only this, the bilateral talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trudeau were curt and cold as PM Modi conveyed “strong concerns about continuing anti-India activities of extremist elements in Canada”.

Modi also said that certain elements are promoting secessionism and inciting violence against Indian diplomats in the country, thus damaging the diplomatic premises and threatening the Indian community in Canada as well as their places of worship.

Elaborating further on the “anti-India activities” in Canada, the PMO said that the association of these extremist forces with organised crime, drug syndicates and human trafficking should be a matter of concern for Canada. “It is essential for the two countries to cooperate in dealing with such threats,” the PMO said in a statement.

Answering questions on the issue of Khalistani extremism, Trudeau said at a press briefing after the meeting that Canada is “always there to prevent violence and to push back against hatred”. He, however, also added that Canada will “always defend freedom of expression, freedom of conscience, and freedom of peaceful protest”.

"I think on the issue of the community, it is important to remember that the actions of the few do not represent the entire community or Canada. The flip side of it, we also highlighted the importance of respecting the rule of law and we did talk about foreign interference," Trudeau added. Trudeau also called India an “important partner to Canada” on issues related to climate change and creating growth and prosperity for citizens.

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