Carney, Modi agree to launch negotiations on new Canada-India trade deal: source

Prime Minister Mark Carney and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have agreed to launch negotiations toward a new trade deal called a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, according to a senior government official.

It’s the latest sign that diplomatic relations between Canada and India are thawing after a deep freeze over Canadian allegations that Indian agents were linked to an extrajudicial killing of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil in 2023.

The news comes shortly after Carney and Modi met at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.

It’s the second time the two leaders have met face to face since Carney came into office — they last met at the G7 summit in Canada in June.

Dinesh Patnaik, India’s high commissioner to Canada, said in a Sunday morning interview on Rosemary Barton Live that the two countries have been discussing trade since the G7 summit.

Patnaik said there was "much appreciation of how we have moved forward on a lot of issues,” and he specifically cited how International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu met with India’s minister of petroleum and gas — a key sector for the country.

“So it’s all leading up to this meeting [between Carney and Modi], and this meeting had both of us discussing trade,” Patnaik said.

Canada and India launched talks 15 years ago for such a trade deal, but it was downgraded to a sectoral deal that would touch only specific industries, up until the fall of 2023. Ottawa suspended trade talks after it went public with the allegations over Nijjar’s killing.

The Carney government continues to face questions about why it’s trying to improve relations with India after the RCMP last year publicly accused agents of India’s government of involvement in homicides, extortion and threats on Canadian soil. India has denied the accusations.

Just last week, Canadian Security Intelligence Service director Dan Rogers suggested the problem hasn’t gone away and that the agency still has to be “very vigilant” against the alleged threat from India.

Patnaik told host Rosemary Barton that Canada should not set aside security concerns to pursue stronger ties with India “like we don’t set our concerns aside.”

“The whole thing is both countries are mature enough to understand that we need to have a relationship where we discuss how people can be safe on the streets," he said. "Canadians safe on Canadian streets, Indians safe on Indian streets."

Patnaik also said if evidence is presented in court that substantiates Canada’s allegations, “then we will take actions ourselves, like we are taking action in the U.S,.” adding that India does not have evidence at this time.

“We do not want people to sully India’s image but doing activities abroad which are antithetical to exactly what India portrays,” Patnaik said.