Will Trudeau’s exit ease Canada-India tensions?

The PM’s departure follows criticism for his handling of allegations surrounding a Sikh leader’s murder on Canadian soil

Reading Time:3 minutes

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau walks past his India counterpart Narendra Modi during the G20 Summit in New Delhi in September 2023. Photo: The Canadian Press via AP

Published: 6:30pm, 7 Jan 2025Updated: 4:55pm, 9 Jan 2025

The surprise resignation of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau could pave the way for a diplomatic reset with India, analysts say, potentially easing tensions over contentious allegations about New Delhi’s involvement in the killing of a Sikh separatist leader on Canadian soil.

Trudeau’s abrupt resignation on Monday followed mounting internal pressure within his Liberal Party, as members, concerned about declining public support, sought a leadership change ahead of the legislative elections scheduled for October.

Indian media quickly seized on the resignation, with many commentators arguing that Trudeau, in office for nearly a decade, had been the leading cause of tensions between the two countries.

It is not yet clear who the Liberal Party will choose as Trudeau’s successor, but analysts say, irrespective of the appointee, there will now be room for renewed negotiations between the two countries.

Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, who has criticised Trudeau’s handling of relations with India, is seen gaining traction for the October polls.

A photograph of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar (back right) is displayed outside the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara Sahib, in Surrey, British Columbia, in October 2024. Photo: The Canadian Press via AP

“I think there will be a reset in the bilateral relationship between India and Canada. That in itself will be stabilising because Trudeau had been associated with stoking the issue of India’s alleged assassination of a Sikh separatist leader for electoral gains,” said C. Uday Bhaskar, director of Delhi-based Society for Policy Studies.