{"id":913946,"date":"2026-09-29T10:30:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T10:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/913946\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T10:30:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T10:30:09","slug":"senior-carney-aide-angad-singh-dhillon-appointed-canadas-next-uae-ambassador","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/913946\/","title":{"rendered":"Senior Carney aide Angad Singh Dhillon appointed Canada\u2019s next UAE ambassador"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Prime Minister Mark Carney takes part in the Canada-UAE Investment Summit in Abu Dhabi last November. One of his senior aides, Angad Singh Dhillon, will become Canada\u2019s ambassador to the UAE on Oct. 5.Sean Kilpatrick\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

One of Mark Carney\u2019s closest aides will be Canada\u2019s next ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, with the posting starting in just one week, the government said Monday. <\/p>\n

Long-time Liberal staffer Angad Singh Dhillon has served as the Prime Minister\u2019s director of operations, outreach and stakeholder relations since Mr. Carney won office in March, 2025.<\/p>\n

He will become Canada\u2019s ambassador to the UAE on Oct. 5, Global Affairs spokesperson Charlotte MacLeod said on Monday. His appointment was first announced by Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand on Friday afternoon. <\/p>\n

Mr. Dhillon\u2019s last day in the Prime Minister\u2019s Office will be Wednesday, a senior government official said.<\/p>\n

The Globe is not identifying the official, who was not authorized to disclose the information. <\/p>\n

Neither Ms. Anand\u2019s office nor department explained why the government made a patronage appointment instead of selecting an ambassador from the diplomatic corps. Ms. MacLeod noted in a brief statement that final approval of diplomatic appointments rests with the Prime Minister. <\/p>\n

Prior to his role on Mr. Carney\u2019s senior team, Mr. Dhillon served the entirety of former prime minister Justin Trudeau\u2019s tenure in varying posts in the Prime Minister\u2019s Office, Liberal Research Bureau and ministerial offices. According to his LinkedIn profile, his last position under Mr. Trudeau\u2019s government was as chief of staff to the minister of transport and then the minister of small business. <\/p>\n

He began working for the Liberals in 2014.<\/p>\n

Mr. Dhillon helped develop and plan Mr. Carney\u2019s recent Canada Investment Summit and helped jump-start relations with India and China, according to a biographical note released by the government. It said in his past roles Mr. Dhillon supported Canada\u2019s work internationally, including with the Group of Seven, the Group of 20 and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.<\/p>\n

The biographical note describes Mr. Dhillon as \u201cone of Prime Minister Mark Carney\u2019s closest advisers.\u201d <\/p>\n

Shannon Proudfoot: Carney\u2019s long-term plans and Canadians\u2019 immediate pain<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr. Dhillon\u2019s appointment is part of a growing list of patronage postings under Mr. Carney. <\/p>\n

For example, last year the Prime Minister appointed one of his principal secretaries, David Lametti (also a former Liberal minister), as Canada\u2019s ambassador to the UN<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The Prime Minister\u2019s other principal secretary, Tom Pitfield, was appointed to the Senate in July<\/a>. That same month, the government appointed former Liberal minister Kamal Khera to be consul-general in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

In April, Mr. Carney appointed former Liberal minister Jonathan Wilkinson to be ambassador to the European Union<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The government declined to release the salary range for Mr. Dhillon, saying it would only be published on Thursday with the accompanying order in council. <\/p>\n

When Mr. Wilkinson was appointed, his disclosed salary range was $285,300 to $335,600.<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s embassy in the UAE still lists Canada\u2019s ambassador as diplomat Radha Krishna Panday. However, his LinkedIn page says he left the post in April. Mr. Panday was appointed in 2022.<\/p>\n

Since Mr. Carney came to office, his government has sought to deepen ties with the UAE. In July, the two governments announced the conclusion of negotiations<\/a> on a new economic and trade agreement. Last year, the UAE pledged to invest $70-billion in Canada<\/a>; however, no announcements have been made since then and while the UAE had a significant contingent at the Canada Investment Summit two weeks ago, no investments were announced then either. <\/p>\n

Over the summer the UAE said it expected an investment would be made soon in Canada\u2019s energy sector. <\/p>\n

Carney\u2019s investment summit attracted \u2018all the right people.\u2019 Will it bear fruit?<\/a><\/p>\n

Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have raised concerns about the authoritarian UAE\u2019s domestic human rights abuses and support for a rebel paramilitary group in Sudan. A 2024 U.S. State Department report said there are \u201csignificant human rights issues\u201d in the country, including credible reports of disappearances and arbitrary arrest or detention. <\/p>\n

NDP MP Heather McPherson told The Globe on Monday that she is concerned Mr. Dhillon\u2019s appointment signals the Carney government will look past the UAE\u2019s human rights record in the name of more trade. <\/p>\n

Ms. McPherson, who is also the NDP\u2019s foreign affairs critic, accused Mr. Carney of taking a \u201cmercenary\u201d approach. <\/p>\n

She said there should be rules preventing patronage appointments and questioned what expertise Mr. Dhillon brings to the role. <\/p>\n

The Conservatives did not reply to a request for comment. <\/p>\n

With a report from James Bradshaw<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Prime Minister Mark Carney takes part in the Canada-UAE Investment Summit in Abu…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":913947,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44,714],"class_list":["post-913946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=913946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/913947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=913946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=913946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=913946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}