Market News

By Spencer Van Dyk

Amid efforts to rebuild the long-fraught relationship with India, that country’s new high commissioner says Canada is “not yet” a reliable supplier of conventional energy, namely oil and gas.

The diplomatic relationship between Canada and India soured more than two years ago, when former prime minister Justin Trudeau said there were “credible allegations” that agents of the Indian government were involved in the murder of a Sikh activist in British Columbia.

A year later, the RCMP alleged the issue was more widespread, claiming Indian diplomats in Canada were involved in serious crimes targeting South Asian Canadians and putting their public safety at risk.

The federal government subsequently expelled a number of Indian diplomats, a move to which India responded in kind.

India, meanwhile, rejected the accusations as politically motivated, and negotiations for a free trade deal were indefinitely put on pause in the ensuing diplomatic clash.

The relationship shifted this summer when Prime Minister Mark Carney invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alta., in June. Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand met again with Modi during a trip to India this week, after which both countries released a statement expressing support for more trade.

U.S. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, encouraged Modi this week to limit the amount of oil his country imports from Russia, in a bid to pressure Moscow to negotiate an end to its war on Ukraine.

In an exclusive interview airing Sunday on CTV Question Period, host Vassy Kapelos asked India’s new high commissioner to Canada, Dinesh Patnaik, whether India would turn to Canada as an energy supplier in lieu of Russia.

“A country of that size is going to consume everything, not just energy, food, you name it, anything in the world, we are going to be the largest consumer in the world,” Patnaik said, pointing to India’s large population and growing economy.

“So, we look for suppliers where they can be a reliable supplier,” he added. “Not a supplier who today says, ‘Okay, I’m going to supply you,’ and tomorrow says, ‘No, I have this problem with you, I cannot supply you.’”

When asked whether he would consider Canada reliable in that vein, Patnaik said: “not yet.”

Patnaik said that despite past disagreements, India wants Canada to be a reliable partner, and believes it could be.

He also said, however, that India doesn’t want “extraneous factors to economic activities” — seemingly referencing the diplomatic dispute that followed RCMP allegations last year that agents of the Indian government were involved in threatening and violent acts on Canadian soil, including murder — to deter economic cooperation.

“Now the political influence can become a negative influence on economics, which we have seen, always,” Patnaik told Kapelos. “So, our work is to make sure that the economic relationship is firewalled from extraneous forces which try to derail them.”

Speaking to reporters from India this week, Anand also said many of her conversations with Indian officials included “an interest in Canadian energy.”

“As you know, our prime minister has repeatedly reiterated that there will be work in Canada as we augment to an energy superpower,” she said on Tuesday. “This is well recognized in India. There’s great interest in Canadian energy, and we will continue to see interaction along that line, well as the others that I mentioned.”

Energy Minister Tim Hodgson was also abroad this week, telling reporters from the U.K. on Thursday that “the world is looking to increase access to Canadian conventional energy.”

He said Canada is viewed internationally as a “very reliable supplier” of energy.

Will Canada and India ink a formal trade pact?

Asked by Kapelos whether India is prepared to resume negotiations on a free trade deal — which has been abandoned for more than two years — Patnaik insisted it’s up to Canada.

“If Canada is ready to sign a free trade deal with us, we’ll be more than happy to work with Canada,” he said. “But it is the Canadians who paused it. It’s for the Canadians to restart it.”

The high commissioner said both countries also need to rebuild trust, after the “preposterous and absurd” allegations levelled by the former prime minister and the RCMP, which Patnaik insists are “in the past.”

Anand was also asked about the possibility of a formalized free trade pact.

“There is a significant level of economic interaction between the Canadian and the Indian economy,” she said. “A free trade negotiation and process would augment already strong economic ties with a framework, but the joint declaration that we finalized is meant to be the initial phases of a broader economic framework.”

You can watch Indian High Commissioner Dinesh Patnaik’s full broadcast exclusive interview on CTV Question Period Sunday at 11 a.m. ET.

With files from CTV News’ Stephanie Ha