Prime Minister’s Office says Carney raised transnational repression with Modi

Prime Minister Mark Carney and his Indian counterpart announced Monday what they’re a calling a “new partnership,” a series of multi-million dollar deals and a commitment to sign a free trade agreement by year’s end as the two look to turn the page on years of frosty bilateral relations marked by allegations of Indian foreign interference.

In a statement to reporters after a one-on-one meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the colonial-era Hyderabad House in Delhi’s diplomatic core, Carney said Canada is going all-in on diversifying trade. The two countries have set a goal to more than double two-way trade to some $70 billion a year by 2030, he said, as Canada continues a push to reduce its dependence on the U.S.

Carney framed this new course as not just a return to how things were but rather an ambitious revisioning of what the two Commonwealth countries can do together in an uncertain era marked by instability. At the centre of this more robust relationship will be a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement — a free trade deal — that Carney said the two sides hope to sign by December, which will offer Canada exports relief from Indian tariffs that are quite high on some goods. 

“This is not merely the renewal of a relationship. It is the expansion of a valued partnership with new ambition, focus, and foresight — a partnership between two confident countries charting our course for the future,” Carney said alongside Modi as the two delivered statements.

Modi, who is notoriously media shy, and has taken part in only a handful of press conferences — none of them solo — over the last 15 years or so, did not take questions about what amounts to a huge foreign policy shift for both countries. 

Reading prepared remarks, Modi was effusive in his praise of Carney, noting his leadership at two central banks and saying the only reason the two countries are on a better footing is because of his leadership.

“I credit my friend Prime Minister Carney for the growing momentum in every area of cooperation,” Modi said in Hindi. “This vision inspires us to move forward in every field. Unlocking the full potential of economic cooperation is our priority.”

Some Indian diplomats were dramatically expelled from Canada after former prime minister Justin Trudeau accused Indian agents of involvement in the murder of Canadian Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was a supporter of an independent Khalistan state. The RCMP subsequently alleged India was behind incidents of extortion and violence on Canadian soil. 

But, with Carney at the helm, the relationship has become friendlier with much more diplomatic dialogue — with even more to come after the prime minister invited Modi to visit Canada sometime soon. 

'Beginning of a prosperous, new relationship'

According to the Prime Minister’s Office, there has been more engagement between the Canadian and Indian governments this year than there has been in any year of the past two decades.

That paved the way for what Carney and Modi signed today: five memorandums of understanding expanding Canada-India partnership across energy and critical minerals, technology and AI, talent, culture and defence worth $5.5 billion in total. 

Perhaps the most significant is a $2.6 billion deal between the Government of India and Saskatoon-based Cameco to supply nearly 22 million pounds of uranium for nuclear energy generation from 2027 to 2035. That’s a big boon for Saskatchewan, which sits on one of the world’s largest reserves of high-grade uranium.

The other deals, some of which were previously announced by the companies involved, are smaller in scale.

Mumbai-based OCT Therapies & Research will manufacture more medicines in New Brunswick.

HCL Technologies, a major Indian IT firm, will open new AI centres in Calgary and Mississauga, Ont., and expand an existing one in Vancouver — increasing employment from about 3,000 to 5,250. 

Jubilant Pharmanova, an Indian pharmaceuticals firm, will spend $155 million to triple production at a sterile injectibles plant in Kirkland, Que.

B.C.-based coal producer, Elk Valley Resources, will sell 1.2 million tonnes of coal to India worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Saskatchewan separately announced that it has created a “joint pulse protein centre of excellence” with India. These farm products have been at the centre of past disputes because India slapped huge tariffs on Canadian peas and lentils. The press release announcing this new centre mentioned nothing about possible tariff relief for these agri-food imports.  

There’s also Canadian investment in India: McCain Foods will spend $135 million to expand its potato-processing plant in Gujarat, among other deals. 

“These agreements are the beginning of a prosperous, new relationship that will offer generational opportunities to workers and businesses in both of our nations,” Carney said. 

And as questions continue to swirl around India’s alleged involvement in harassing Canadian Sikhs, the PMO said both Carney and Modi have “agreed to advance bilateral cooperation on security and law enforcement.” Those efforts will focus on curbing the flow of illegal drugs, notably fentanyl precursors, and cracking down on transnational organized crime networks. 

“Prime Minister Carney also underscored that Canada will continue to take measures to combat transnational repression,” according to a backgrounder on the Modi meeting shared with reporters. 

'We need to engage'

A government official told reporters before the trip that Ottawa believes Indian foreign interference activity has stopped.

Carney was due to face questions about that assessment Monday but cancelled a planned news conference with reporters travelling with him on this 10-day trip to the Indo-Pacific.

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand was sent out in his place. Amid outrage from some in the Sikh community that the government would say interference in Canada is over, Anand distanced herself from those comments. 

“The words of the senior official are not words that I personally would use,” Anand said. 

And yet she defended bolstering relations with a country accused of this activity. “We need to engage, we need to have these diplomatic conversations in order to make progress," she said.