Canadians, British Columbians will only benefit from close relationship with India: premier

B.C. Premier David Eby, who is on a trade mission to India, says that finding new trade partners is critical to ensure British Columbians' standard of living doesn't deteriorate amid the U.S. trade war.

The premier and a delegation from the province, which includes Minister of Jobs and Economic Growth Ravi Kahlon, is in the middle of a week-long trade mission which will see them travel across the country.

Eby spoke to reporters from Mumbai about which sectors in the province are receiving interest from investors in the city, which is India's financial hub.

The premier said he spoke to India's energy minister, giant conglomerates like Tata and Reliance, and oil companies like Indian Oil and Hindustan Petroleum.

"I'll have to say the big winner so far has been [B.C.'s] mining sector. The belle of the ball, really," he told reporters.

"There hasn't been a meeting with one of these companies that hasn't included an extensive discussion about the mining opportunities in the province, the more than 20 mines that are in various stages of development."

The premier added that the province's energy sector — and ongoing attempts to expand liquefied natural gas (LNG) production — was also being received well in India.

He said that every company and politician were convinced that India would continue to grow at seven or eight per cent annually, and would become the world's third-largest economy.

"That means they need dramatic and increased amounts of energy," the premier argued.

"They're doing a huge internal push to reduce reliance on imported petroleum products like oil and gas and diesel and so on," he added. "But in the meantime, they are looking strongly to LNG as one of their major ways of reducing carbon intensity as well as reducing smog in the country."

Eby said that the Woodfibre LNG project in Squamish, LNG Canada Phase 2 in Kitimat and the Ksi Lisims project near Prince Rupert are among those with interest from Indian investors.

Critics of the trade mission have said that a warming relationship with India is concerning, years after former prime minister Justin Trudeau alleged that Indian agents were linked to an extrajudicial killing of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil in 2023.

Nijjar was an advocate for an independent Sikh state called Khalistan. Pro-Khalistan group Sikhs for Justice accused Eby of choosing trade interests over justice for Nijjar in a statement last week.

India's government has denied ordering extrajudicial killings in Canada. Four men, all Indian nationals who arrived in Canada several years ago, have been accused of carrying out the killing of Nijjar.