Canada MP barred from running under party’s banner for India ties, says report

Ottawa: Canada’s Liberal Party revoked

Indian-origin MP

Chandra Arya’s bid to run for the party leadership and his nomination in his own

Ottawa Nepean constituency

over his alleged ties to the Indian government, a media report said on Wednesday.
Citing a source with top-secret clearance, the Globe and Mail daily reported that Arya, who visited India last Aug and met PM Narendra Modi, had not informed the govt of that trip even though bilateral relations are in a deep freeze. The Liberals had never revealed why they barred the three-term Liberal MP from the party’s recent leadership race or from running again in Nepean constituency, the paper said.
Citing the source, the daily reported that the Canadian security intelligence service had briefed the govt about Arya’s “alleged close ties to the govt of India, including its high commission in Ottawa.”
Liberal Party officials who have security clearances and had received a general CSIS briefing on

foreign interference

also had concerns about Arya, a Liberal source said. The decisions to remove Arya as a candidate for the leadership and Nepean nomination were solely made by the Liberal Party and were not on the advice of CSIS, sources said.

Party officials, in charge of monitoring foreign meddling, found troubling inconsistencies in information that Arya had put in a confidential questionnaire, the second source said.
Arya rejected the allegations that he has been influenced by India. “As a MP, I have engaged with numerous diplomats and heads of govt, both in Canada and internationally. Not once have I sought — nor been required to seek — permission from the govt to do so,” he told The Globe. At no point did former PM Trudeau or any minister raise concerns about my meetings or public statements, he said. Arya said he believes he was removed from Nepean nomination because he’s spoken out against the

Khalistan movement

in Canada. Last week, Arya released a letter from the Liberal Party informing him of the decision to disallow his Nepean nomination.