Carney signs deals worth billions in diplomatic breakthrough with India's Modi
CBC
Prime Minister Mark Carney and his Indian counterpart announced Monday what they're a calling a "new partnership," a series of multimillion-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.
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.
Two Ontario residents are urging the province to review and improve what they say is a "broken" system that's supposed to limit air pollution from big industries.
Politicians, prospectors and mining executives from across northern Ontario are in Toronto this week for the world's largest mining conference.
The City of Toronto is making drivers aware of an intersection closure in downtown Toronto beginning Monday.
A period of bitterly cold wind chills is expected overnight into Monday morning across Waterloo Region and Guelph.
Canada's seemingly breakneck effort to replace its aging submarine fleet hits an important milestone on Monday with the deadline for both the South Korean and German shipyards to submit their formal proposals in the more than $20-billion program.
Cheers rang through Springbank Park in London, Ont., on Sunday afternoon as dozens of local Iranians danced, chanted and waved flags to mark the death of Iran’s supreme leader, who was killed in a major strike.
Shayan Morshedi stayed awake, waiting for news from home, as the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran on Saturday.
It’s been 31 years since Ziba Mashkori left her home country of Iran, and for the first time in a while, she says, she's hopeful about the future of the country.
Conservationists are reporting that more alewife and blueback herring are returning to the St. Croix River after the removal of a hydroelectric dam two years ago.
Youth in Montreal's east end are more susceptible to social isolation, financial precarity and issues accessing higher education because of a lack of public transit services in the area, a recent report suggests.
Some Iranians living in Winnipeg continued celebrating throughout the weekend after Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a joint attack launched by the U.S. and Israel.
The Regina Fire department and police say they found a man dead inside a Regina home while responding to an early morning house fire.
A snowmobiler has died in B.C.’s Interior after an avalanche in the Kootenay Pass area on Saturday, RCMP says, as forecasters warn hazardous conditions persist across the province.