OTTAWA — Justin Trudeau’s longtime adviser Gerald Butts accused India’s government of trying to “screw” the Liberals to help his Canadian Conservative rivals during the prime minister’s controversy-ridden trip to India.
Trudeau’s visit to India in early 2018 was widely panned because of his dressing in traditional garb; the invitation of a convicted attempted murderer to high-level receptions and the lack of official duties among other issues.
“‘We walked into a buzzsaw — (Narendra) Modi and his government were out to screw us and were throwing tacks under our tires to help Canadian conservatives, who did a good job of embarrassing us,’” Butts is quoted as saying in a new book by National Post political columnist, John Ivison, Trudeau: The Education of a Prime Minister, scheduled to be released next week.
Butts was principal secretary to Trudeau at the time although he resigned his position earlier this year in the wake of the SNC-Lavalin controversy. However, he has returned to the fold and will work on the Liberals’ re-election campaign.
The book sheds light on how senior Liberals viewed and framed the prime minister’s trip. At least as far as polling was concerned, the eight-day journey seemed to mark the end of a Liberal honeymoon period with the Canadian public.
Butts’s comments speculating about Prime Minister Modi’s motives are coming to light before a federal election in October, at a time when any hint of foreign interference in Canadian politics is liable to become a headline.
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