OTTAWA, March 10: Former central banker Mark Carney, who is set to become Canada’s next prime minister, recently said he would rebuild his country’s relationship with India if he takes charge.
“What Canada will be looking to do is to diversify our trade relationship with like-minded countries,” Carney said last Tuesday in Calgary before being elected as the leader of the governing Liberal Party.
“And there are opportunities to rebuild the relationship with India. There needs to be a shared sense of values around that commercial relationship. If I’m prime minister, I look forward to the opportunity to build that,” Carney said as Canada deals with US President Donald Trump’s trade war and annexation threat.
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India-Canada ties saw tensions after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in September 2023 in the House of Commons said there were “credible allegations” of a potential link between Indian agents and the killing of pro-Khalistan separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia.
New Delhi, however, consistently denied the allegations, with the Ministry of External Affairs saying Canada has “presented us no evidence” in support of the serious allegations Ottawa chose to level against India and Indian diplomats.
After the controversy, both countries in a tit for tat move recalled their diplomats.
“The responsibility for the damage that this cavalier behaviour has caused to India-Canada relations lies with Prime Minister Trudeau alone,” the MEA said in December last year after Trudeau acknowledged that he had only intelligence and no “hard evidentiary proof” when he alleged the involvement of Indian government agents in Nijjar’s killing.
Carney, 59, replaces Trudeau, who announced his resignation in January but remains in his post until his successor is sworn in the coming days.
Carney, who navigated crises as the head of the Bank of Canada, won 85.9 per cent of the vote. (PTI)
