Canada’s interests currently pale in comparison to India’s massive strategic importance

International Desk News :: Last week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took to the stage at the House of Commons and made an explosive announcement by accusing “agents of Indian government” of killing a Canadian citizen – a prominent Sikh separatist whom India has accused of terrorism – on Canadian soil. The accusation, swiftly condemned and denied by New Delhi, has torpedoed the Indo-Canadian diplomatic relationship.

Following Trudeau’s public accusations, the diplomatic confrontation between both countries has reached an all-time high. As part of the confrontation, the North American country has expelled the “Canadian station chief of India’s intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW),” accusing him of interfering in Ottawa’s “internal affairs.” Meanwhile, in a tit-for-tat move, India has also expelled a senior Canadian diplomat and later suspended all visa services for Canadian nationals.
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Amid these diplomatic measures, one thing is very significant to note that both India and Canada are allies of the United States, or in other words, the West. India is one of the most significant allies of the US and one of the important frontiers of Washington’s confrontation with Beijing. In the midst of such cold geopolitical realities, one might wonder where Justin Trudeau stands on the world stage. According to the BBC, Trudeau has been facing the cold reality of geopolitics “alone” in the past week.

“In the public eye at least, Trudeau has appeared to be left largely on his own as he goes toe to toe with India, one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, with a population 35 times bigger than Canada’s,” BBC reports.

It is worth noting that Canada has received the intelligence regarding New Delhi’s “spy ops” from Five Eyes intelligence alliance – made up of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. However, according to BBC, Trudeau’s allies in the intelligence network have provided “seemingly boilerplate public statements, all stopping far short of full-throated support.”

UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said his country took “very seriously the things that Canada is saying.” Using nearly identical language, Australia said it was “deeply concerned” by the accusations. Meanwhile, Ottawa’s southern neighbour, the United States, said it expects Delhi to cooperate with Ottawa in investigating the assassination. Citing experts, BBC noted that Canada’s interests currently pale in comparison to India’s massive strategic importance.

“The US, the UK, and all these Western and Indo-Pacific allies have built a strategy that largely focuses on India, to be a bulwark and counterweight to China. That’s something they can’t afford to toss out the window,” Xavier Delgado, a researcher at the Wilson Centre’s Canada Institute told BBC. “The fact that they haven’t come out and rushed to Canada’s defence is indicative of the geopolitical reality,” he added.