Written by Eric Walberg Эрик Вальберг/ Уолберг إيريك والبرغ
Trudeau's Sikh contingent represent Vancouver, Mississauga, Waterloo and Edmonton — the respective hometowns of Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, Industry Minister Navdeep Bains, Tourism Minister Bardish Chagger, and Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi. Trudeau's cabinet now contains more Sikh cabinet ministers than that of India. Though an official visit by Canada's new prime minister has not been set, both sides are eager to engage, and Trudeau will no doubt be accompanied by some of his Indian-born ministers, building a new platform for cooperation, based on the strong relations in the past.
Canadian Eric Walberg is known worldwide as a journalist specializing in the Middle East, Central Asia and Russia. A graduate of University of Toronto and Cambridge in economics, he has been writing on East-West relations since the 1980s.
He has lived in both the Soviet Union and Russia, and then Uzbekistan, as a UN adviser, writer, translator and lecturer. Presently a writer for the foremost Cairo newspaper, Al Ahram, he is also a regular contributor to Counterpunch, Dissident Voice, Global Research, Al-Jazeerah and Turkish Weekly, and is a commentator on Voice of the Cape radio.