PM Carney brings his ‘middle-power diplomacy’ to India, begins 10-day trip

Prime Minister Mark Carney is on his way to India, Australia and Japan for a 10-day trip – his first foreign foray since his attention-grabbing speech last month at the World Economic Forum.

Visiting India first, Carney is aiming to reset relations after that diplomatic crisis following allegations of Indian involvement in the killing of a Canadian Sikh activist.

But some Canadian Sikhs are demanding Carney take a firmer hand with India.

Flying to Mumbai and then on to New Delhi, Carney’s goal is to mend fences with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“This is Prime Minister Carney taking his Davos middle-power diplomacy agenda on the road,” said Vina Nadjibulla, vice president of research and strategy at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.

Nadjibulla says the trip is an opportunity for Carney to put the tenets of his address to the World Economic Forum into action and bring it to the Indo-Pacific region.

“This is going to be really consequential to Canada’s prosperity and security moving forward,” said Nadjibulla.

Nadjibulla says Carney’s message at Davos — urging middle powers to push back against American hegemony and towards greater trade diversification and autonomy — has resonated strongly in India — a nation that she says has long practiced those principles in diplomacy.

“And I think that opens up strategic opportunities between Canada and India that didn’t exist before,” said Nadjibulla.

She expects several announcements resulting from the India visit around energy, nuclear cooperation, education and the economic partnership that Canada and India have been working on.

Other experts are less certain if the trip will result in concrete deliverables. But last week, India’s high commissioner to Canada said he’s optimistic about the chances of reaching a trade deal in just 12 months.

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Not everyone is happy about Carney’s trip.

“Mending ties with India is just giving Narendra Modi a license to kill,” said Inderjeet Gosal, member of Sikhs for Justice.

Advocacy group Sikhs for Justice held a rally yesterday on Parliament Hill to push the government to seek justice for activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, whose 2023 murder in Surrey, B.C. was linked to agents of the Indian government by the RCMP and Trudeau government.

Members of the Sikh community say they are still receiving death threats and believe the threats are connected to India.

The Federal Minister of Public Safety Gary Anandasangaree says discussions with India on the safety and security of Canadians are expected on Carney’s trip.

“We will also have, at times, difficult conversations around the safety and security of Canadians. And of course, there are still outstanding issues that we’re going to work through,” said Anandasangaree.

Yesterday, a federal official told reporters Canada is confident the Indian government is not currently involved in threats or extortion in Canada, and said the prime minister wouldn’t be making the trip if the government thought India was interfering in Canadian democracy.

The Carney government began repairing relations last year, with an invitation to Modi to join the G7 meetings in Alberta.

After visiting India, Carney will continue on to Australia on March 3 and then Japan on March 6.

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