PM Justin Trudeau appoints Dominic LeBlanc as Canada’s new Finance Minister
Canada's Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc was appointed as the new Finance Minister on Monday in a swearing-in ceremony held at the Rideau Hall in Ottawa.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday met visiting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Amritsar.
Both the leaders discussed the strong bond that exists between the two places, largely due to an influential Punjabi community settled in the western nation.
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Besides the Trudeau-Amarinder meeting, which remained uncertain till Monday evening, the other highlight was the Chief Minister meeting Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan, who was born in Punjab’s Hoshiarpur district and is the first Sikh to handle the defence portfolio of a western country.
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Amarinder had refused to meet the Canadian Defence Minister in April 2017 during the latter’s visit to the state and even dubbed him and other ministers of Punjab-origin in the Trudeau government as “Khalistani sympathisers”.
After the meeting, the Punjab chief minister said that he raised the issue of Khalistan and its funding with Canadian PM Trudeau.
“I raised issue of Khalistan as it’s the primary issue, as there is money coming in from various countries, including Canada,” ANI quoted Singh as saying.
Punjab CM @capt_amarinder and Canadian Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau get ready for their historic one-to-one meeting, expected to pave the way for better ties between the two countries on various issues of mutual concern. pic.twitter.com/udOSc3A9Jb
— RaveenMediaAdvPunCM (@RT_MediaAdvPbCM) February 21, 2018
The Amarinder Singh government went all out to accord a red carpet welcome to Trudeau and his entourage, including his wife and children, during their four hour trip to the Sikh holy city of Amritsar.
Trudeau arrived here from Mumbai on Wednesday morning and offered prayers at the Golden Temple complex, at the holiest of Sikh shrines in the ‘Harmandir Sahib’.
(With IANS inputs)
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