India’s foreign minister has confirmed that he discussed his country’s row with Canada over the killing of a Canadian Sikh leader with top United States government officials during a visit to Washington, DC, this week.
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said on Friday that he laid out India’s concerns about Sikh separatist movement supporters in Canada during talks a day earlier with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on September 18 that his government was investigating “credible allegations of a potential link” between Indian government agents and the June killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a prominent Sikh leader in western Canada.
“They [Blinken and Sullivan] obviously shared US views and assessments on this whole situation and I explained to them … the concerns which I had,” Jaishankar said during an event at the Hudson Institute, a conservative US think-tank.
“Hopefully we both came out of those meetings better informed.”
New Delhi has consistently rejected Ottawa’s allegations of involvement in Nijjar’s killing, calling them “absurd” and politically motivated.
That denial was echoed by Jaishankar on Friday, who said the official Indian government response to Trudeau, “both in private and public”, has been “that what he was alleging was not consistent with our policy”.
‘Climate of fear’
Jaishankar also said the US and India viewed Canada differently, accusing Ottawa of harbouring what he called “terrorists” and organised crime, referring to Sikh separatists whom New Delhi views as a security threat.
“It’s a very toxic combination of issues and people who have found operating space there,” he said.
The Canada-India dispute escalated further last week as the two nations expelled diplomats from each other’s respective countries, and New Delhi suspended visa services in Canada because of purported threats against its consular staff.
Jaishankar said Indian diplomats in Canada “are unsafe going to the embassy or to the consulates” because of a “climate of fear”.
“Because there is freedom of speech to make threats and intimidate diplomats, I don’t think that’s acceptable,” Jaishankar later told reporters.
Canada also has reported threats on social media against its diplomats in India.
Trudeau said last week his country would defend its citizens and the “rules-based system” and called on India to cooperate with the Canadian investigation into the killing.
But Ottawa has not released specific evidence to back up its accusations of India’s involvement in the killing of Nijjar.
Jaishankar reiterated on Friday that India is open to looking into “anything relevant and specific” that Canada may put forward.
For its part, Washington previously voiced support for the Canadian probe, with Sullivan saying the feud with India has not caused friction between the US and Canada.
“I firmly reject the idea that there is a wedge between the US and Canada,” Sullivan said last week. “We have deep concerns about the allegations, and we would like to see this investigation carried forward and the perpetrators are held to account.”
‘Hold perpetrators accountable’
The US, arguably Canada’s closest ally, has been deepening ties with India – which it sees as a counterweight to China in the Asia-Pacific region – amid Washington’s growing competition with Beijing.
A US Department of State readout describing the meeting between Jaishankar and Blinken on Thursday did not mention Canada or the killing of Nijjar.
Instead, the State Department hailed a US-brokered project to create a trade corridor from India to Europe, including via rail through Saudi Arabia and Israel, which President Joe Biden has viewed as a major achievement.
But India has faced criticism from progressives in the US Congress for its human rights record under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“I’m deeply concerned over allegations that Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar was murdered by the Indian government, especially in light of rising threats to the Sikh community,” Democratic Congresswoman Barbara Lee said in a social media post on Thursday.
Demands for government intervention in Air Canada labour talks could negatively affect airline competition in Canada, the CEO of travel company Transat AT Inc. said.
“The extension of such an extraordinary intervention to Air Canada would be an undeniable competitive advantage to the detriment of other Canadian airlines,” Annick Guérard told analysts on an earnings conference call on Thursday.
“The time and urgency is now. It is time to restore healthy competition in Canada,” she added.
Air Canada has asked the federal government to be ready to intervene and request arbitration as early as this weekend to avoid disruptions.
Comments on the potential Air Canada pilot strike or lock out came as Transat reported third-quarter financial results.
Guérard recalled Transat’s labour negotiations with its flight attendants earlier this year, which the company said it handled without asking for government intervention.
The airline’s 2,100 flight attendants voted 99 per cent in favour of a strike mandate and twice rejected tentative deals before approving a new collective agreement in late February.
As the collective agreement for Air Transat pilots ends in June next year, Guérard anticipates similar pressure to increase overall wages as seen in Air Canada’s negotiations, but reckons it will come out “as a win, win, win deal.”
“The pilots are preparing on their side, we are preparing on our side and we’re confident that we’re going to come up with a reasonable deal,” she told analysts when asked about the upcoming negotiations.
The parent company of Air Transat reported it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31. The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
It attributed reduced revenues to lower airline unit revenues, competition, industry-wide overcapacity and economic uncertainty.
Air Transat is also among the airlines facing challenges related to the recall of Pratt & Whitney turbofan jet engines for inspection and repair.
The recall has so far grounded six aircraft, Guérard said on the call.
“We have agreed to financial compensation for grounded aircraft during the 2023-2024 period,” she said. “Alongside this financial compensation, Pratt & Whitney will provide us with two additional spare engines, which we intend to monetize through a sell and lease back transaction.”
Looking ahead, the CEO said she expects consumer demand to remain somewhat uncertain amid high interest rates.
“We are currently seeing ongoing pricing pressure extending into the winter season,” she added. Air Transat is not planning on adding additional aircraft next year but anticipates stability.
“(2025) for us will be much more stable than 2024 in terms of fleet movements and operation, and this will definitely have a positive effect on cost and customer satisfaction as well,” the CEO told analysts.
“We are more and more moving away from all the disruption that we had to go through early in 2024,” she added.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
