The candidacy of a member of Hindu origin for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada (PLC) raises “red flags,” note two experts. In interview at JournalChandra Arya brushes aside these concerns.
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“It’s quite a special case,” comments Chrystian Viens, a former executive of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).
Opposition to the register of foreign agents
Mr. Arya doesn’t make headlines every day, but in 2023, the Ottawa-area elected official attracted attention by sponsoring a petition to ask the Trudeau government to cancel its proposed foreign agents registry .
“For me, opposition to the registry is the reddest of red flags,” says Professor Thomas Juneau of the University of Ottawa.
“It has been demonstrated that it is a useful tool, without being a miracle cure, to fight against foreign interference,” continues the national security expert. This is also one of the recommendations of the Hogue commission.
On the phone, Mr. Arya is nuanced: he is not against the register, but against the way in which it is envisaged. “It is already affecting Canadians of Chinese origin, who are already withdrawing from cultural associations. They are afraid of being seen as foreign agents,” he said.
“We must be careful: opposing the creation of a register of foreign lobbyists, as such, is not proof of anything. At a minimum, it is clearly wrong,” says the national security expert.
A “strange” meeting with Modi
Despite the high tensions between Canada and India, Chandra Arya was received by Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi in New Delhi on August 12.
Global Affairs Canada had to clarify that Mr. Arya had “traveled to India on his own initiative and that he did not represent the Government of Canada.”
Mr. Arya justifies himself by maintaining that Mr. Modi is just one of the world leaders he has met in recent years.
For his part, Justin Trudeau had all the difficulties in the world to obtain a meeting with Mr. Modi, which took place at the end of his very difficult trip to India in 2018.
“How can Mr. Arya have such easy access to Mr. Modi when it was as complicated as anything for Justin Trudeau?” asks Chrystian Viens.
There is nothing wrong for a Canadian elected official to meet the Prime Minister of his motherland, it is even banal, nuance Thomas Juneau. “But, at a minimum, it’s strange and uncomfortable in the context of the difficult relationship [entre les deux pays]».
A commotion in the Chamber
Mr. Arya, who announced his candidacy on Thursday, regularly comes to the defense of Hindus in Canada in the face of violence by certain Sikh separatists in Canada.
The friction between these communities carried over to the Commons in December. Mr. Arya claims to have been taken to task by other elected officials, including his liberal colleague Sukh Dhaliwal, after opposing a motion to recognize as “genocide” the violence perpetrated in India against the Sikhs in 1984.
In the fall, Mr. Arya made several appeals to his “fellow Hindu-Canadians” whose “low profile is often taken for weakness by politicians.” “I undertake to do my best to defend your interests,” he said.
Mr. Arya told the Journal that the “allegations” about his allegiances come mainly from “certain groups”. “Mostly, religious groups who attack me because I am Hindu,” he says, without specifically naming the Sikh community.
He makes a point of advocating for stricter rules for the PLC leadership race. He wants to ban “foreigners” and temporary residents “from deciding who should be the next Canadian prime minister.”
According to Chrystian Viens, the MP’s political background should be food for thought. “You must not be naive. There is interference, and there is a reason the commission was set up.”
Mr. Juneau reaffirms that we should not “jump to conclusions,” but he insists: “these are red flags, absolutely.”
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