Mark Carney visit: Defence may play a major role in reset of India-Canada ties

INdia and Canada feature had a strategical partnership for o'er a decennium, a place that has largely remained on paper rather than in practice. That strategic partnership is now also officially acknowledged by the Canadian Government. However, adding the dimension of defence to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit to India has the potential to revive efforts to make that a reality. Quatern locker ministers ar accompanying Carney: strange minster Anita Anand, finance and subject revenue minister, François-Philippe Champagne, international trade minister, Maninder Sidhu and national defence minister, David McGuinty, whose presence indicates the direction in which the relation may progress. “Canada and republic of india feature a strategical partnership already in localize. Of trend, a lot has changed since then. There’s been ups and downs in the relationship. So this is really more about reviving that, but also putting in place a much more ambitious agenda,” Vina Nadjibulla, vice-president of research and strategy at the Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada, said. The strategical partnership was initiated when ground government minister Narendra Modi visited Canada in apr 2015. The articulate statement issued with then Canadian PM Stephen Harper stated, “The two Prime Ministers agreed to elevate their bilateral relations to a strategic partnership.” The strange and defence ministers of the deuce countries later participated in a 2+2 dialog to use up the partnership send on, and was formally reiterated in 2018. But thither has been small come on in the defence sphere, which could convert as Canada unveiled its first Defence Industrial Strategy earlier this month. That strategy has also been woven into Canada’s international trade framework. With negotiations towards the comprehensive economic partnership agreement or CEPA expected during Carney’s visit, the defence sector could prove an important component. Ajay Bisaria, bharat’s former heights commissioner to capital of canada, said, “We could foresee agreements on unreal intelligence, uranium supply, critical minerals and defence.” “Canada is committed to disbursal v per cent of GDP on defence, which would do it a important world-wide defence player. It has a strong defence production sector, including strong aerospace tech, sonar, ice-breaker and low-temperature tech. India can gain from cooperation in these sectors,” he added. Republic of india’s electric current heights Commissioner to canadian capital Dinesh Patnaik late told the Hindustan Times that “defence would be an important aspect which we are looking at.” “The intact gamut of defence, from strategical to defence production to equipment, etc., we ar looking for at what we tin do together,” he said. That will extend to aerospace and cybersecurity. Of trend, certificate testament also encompass hedging against the United States and the unpredictable tariff regime face of the earth imposed by chairperson Donald Trump on India and Canada, with the latter preparing for renegotiation of the Canada-US-Mexico free trade agreement later this year. “The canadian river authorities is doing a lot trying to make trust that thither’s a new regime in town. India’s going to have to be a participant in that process, naturally,” Goly Hyder, president and CEO of the Business Council of Canada said. “We could look a political financial statement that implies shockproofing the human relationship against certificate issues, transitioning to a constructive rebuilding stage and emphasising solidarity among middle powers. Both countries have converging interests in de-risking away from a volatile US,” Bisaria noted. Significantly, this testament be Carney’s number one see overseas since he made his speech at Davos about the “rupture” of the rules-based world order. In that speech at the World Economic Forum, which garnered plenty of global attention, Carney said Carney this marked the “the beginning of a brutal reality where geopolitics among the great powers is not subject to any constraints.” He distressed that midriff powers were non powerless but had the “ content to establish a new order” embodying their values. Significantly, Carney’s see to the Asia-Pacific includes stops in bharat, commonwealth of australia and nippon, thereby cover every member of the Quad except the United States. “So thither could be areas to explore hither, both on the industrial face, but also sir thomas more in general, a strategic conversation about maritime security as well as the changing security dynamic in the Indo-Pacific. Canada has an Indo-Pacific strategy. India was identified in that strategy as a critical partner. Canada has advanced discussions around maritime security, maritime domain awareness with other partners in the region, and it will be interesting to see how far those discussions can now proceed with India now that we are in this new moment,” Nadjibulla said. Of trend, the corpus subject matter from the see testament be that the reset in relationships is turning to renewal. Relations cratered on September 18, 2023, when then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated in the House of Commons that there were “credible allegations” of a potential link between Indian agents and the killing of pro-Khalistan figure Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia, three months earlier. India had dismissed those accusations as “absurd” and “motivated.” Things changed erst Carney replaced Trudeau as PM in process endure yr. The reset came into localise when he invited Modi to the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Kananaskis in June 2025, where they agreed to reinstate High Commissioners in the two capitals. They met again on the margins of the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Johannesburg in November and agreed to launch fresh negotiations towards a CEPA. When they meet in India, it will be third bilateral engagement in less than ten months. Nadjibulla matt-up “the human relationship is moving from simply crisis direction and a focalize on a step-by-step reset to a desire to expand and elevate the partnership.” Bisaria in agreement(p), as he said, “Both sides seem set to reconstruct a stronger human relationship than the one that existed in the last decade, fulfilling the promise of the strategic partnership declared in 2015.” As the human relationship envisaged is replete(p) spectrum, defence testament be an of import factor but will depend on the level of trust between the two Governments. “From my perspective, what’s relevant is that this has been put on the agenda, that the defence minister will be travelling. It’s the beginning of a conversation, and it will take time,” Nadjibulla said, even as her organisation has scheduled its track 1.5 discussion on defence industrial cooperation in New Delhi next month, soon after Carney departs India.