If there is one lesson I learned during my time in politics, it’s that when it rains, it pours. Rarely did I receive one piece of bad news without a few more unpleasant surprises by the end of the day. A crisis in the health portfolio would soon be followed by a meltdown by a backbench MPP, or some other unexpected turn of events.So it has gone with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.February was not a particularly kind month to the Liberal government. I can only assume that their issues management team did not have much chance to sleep. As soon as it had solved one challenge, it seemed that another emerged.Of course, the most problematic was Trudeau’s ill-fated official visit to India. The prime minister, who has proven that he is remarkably adept at demonstrating authenticity, came across as almost comically out-of-touch. Dressed in traditional Indian garments, the entire Trudeau family spent the entire week clothed in a way that many Indians took as insulting. The parade of outfits, combined with an attempt by Trudeau to literally dance for a crowd, made for endless mocking on social media and tut-tutting in traditional media.But more challenging still for the visit was the Indian government’s subtle, or not-so-subtle, attempts to undermine the trip and demonstrate its antipathy toward Trudeau’s government. Narendra Modi’s government got quite close with the former Conservative government and has not been secretive in its disapproval of several moves by the Trudeau government. It set about sabotaging the Trudeau tour as subtly as it could, as when it sent only a junior minister of agriculture to greet Trudeau (Modi usually makes a personal appearance to greet foreign dignitaries), or when it sent low-ranking bureaucrats to accompany the Trudeaus.While those were minor frustrations, they received minimal attention at home. The trip officially went from bad-to-worse when Jaspal Atwal turned up at a reception hosted by the Canadian gover ...
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