Bill Kelly: Trudeau’s not so excellent adventure to India

Now that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is back home, he’d be well advised to have a sit down with his staff and review what went wrong on his recent trip to India.

It’s the job of the prime minister’s staff to set the agenda for the trip and ensure that things run smoothly and frankly, based on what we saw, they did a lousy job.

For one thing, if you’re going to mix business and family vacation on a trip, attend to business first.

For another, there’s protocol. Being met at the airport by a junior government minister and not meeting with the Indian Prime Minister until the last days of the trip was a diplomatic misstep that gained international attention.

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Then, there’s the matter of the dinner hosted by the Canadian delegation.

Suffice to say that inviting a convicted criminal to the party, one who is well known to the Indian government, was a monumental mistake. Flying in the prime minister’s favourite chef at taxpayer’s expense was a huge gaffe, in light of the ruling by the Ethics  Commissioner about the prime minister’s Aga Khan vacation.

No one expects the prime minister to attend to all those details personally, but his staff should ensure that these sort of mistakes don’t happen.

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When the problems overshadow the accomplishments of a diplomatic trip, it’s time for the Prime Minister to re-assess the people who are supposed to have his back.