Jaspal Atwal, B.C. man at centre of media storm over Trudeau invite, likes posing with politicians
Atwal has posed for photos with Liberal cabinet ministers and former leaders - and even Wayne Gretzky
For a man once convicted of trying to kill a politician, Jaspal Atwal seems to have had little trouble getting his picture taken with MPs, cabinet ministers and Liberal party leaders, including Justin Trudeau.
Atwal — convicted in 1986 of the attempted assassination of an Indian state cabinet minister visiting Vancouver Island — is at the centre of an international media storm after posing for photos with Prime Minister Trudeau's wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, and Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi during Trudeau's trip to India this week.
Here are the photos that sparked the controversy this week:
But Atwal also has been in photos with Justin Trudeau on at least two occasions, including this photo from several years ago:
Nor is Justin Trudeau the first federal Liberal leader to pose for a photo with Atwal.
Here he is in 2009 with Michael Ignatieff, who was Liberal leader at the time:
And here he is with former interim Liberal leader Bob Rae:
Atwal has also posed with ministers
Then there was Liberal cabinet minister Carla Qualtrough, MP for the riding of Delta, B.C, who posed with Atwal when she was minister of sport and persons with disabilities. She is now minister for public service and procurement.
John McCallum, who was immigration minister at the time, may not have known that Atwal was in the background of this photo taken at a roundtable for South Asian journalists:
... and that's not all.
Here he is with former NHL hockey star Wayne Gretzky in a photo posted on Atwal's Facebook page earlier this month:
