New Delhi, Mar 21 (UNI) India today expressed hope of rebuilding its ties with Canada “based on mutual trust and sensitivity”, days after Ottawa got a new prime minister in Mike Carney who has expressed his desire to rebuild the relationship with New Delhi that hit rock-bottom under Justin Trudeau.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, addressing a weekly media briefing, said: “The downturn in India-Canada relations was caused by the licence that was given to the extremist and secessionist elements in that country.
“Our hope is that we can rebuild our ties based on mutual trust and sensitivity.”
Earlier this month, Mike Carney was quoted as saying: “What Canada will be looking to do is to diversify our trade relationship with like-minded countries. 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.
The sharp downswing in ties began in September 2023, when then Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused India in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian Sikh and a known Khalistani activist, who was gunned down in British Columbia earlier that year.
India rejected the allegations, calling them “absurd” and “motivated”.
The ties sunk even lower when in a tit-for-tat move, the two nations expelled several of their diplomats.
Canada under Justin Trudeau gave free rein to the Khalistani elements, even allowing them to hold so-called referendums and parade anti-India floats.
Former prime minister Stephen Harper told a conference in India in February that he doesn’t “entirely understand” why Canada has such a poor relationship with India, and suggested the Liberal party has become infiltrated by Sikh separatists who want to carve a separate state out of India.
“Frankly, I have been heartbroken to watch the steady deterioration of this relationship under my successor. I don’t think I entirely understand why that is,” Harper said in his remarks to a conference in New Delhi called the NXT Conclave.
UNI RN