Indo-Canadian minister pitches for strong India ties if the ruling Liberal party forms the next govt
ByAnirudh Bhattacharyya
Mar 31, 2025 10:25 AM IST
Anita Anand, who is considered among Canada Prime Minister Mark Carney’s confidants, is currently the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry
Toronto: A Cabinet minister considered close to Prime Minister Mark Carney has pitched for “strong ties” with India.
Canadian Innovation, Science and Industry Minister Anita Anand, is sworn-in to Cabinet at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, Ontario, on March 14. (REUTERS)
Canadian Innovation, Science and Industry Minister Anita Anand, is sworn-in to Cabinet at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, Ontario, on March 14. (REUTERS)
Speaking at an event over the weekend connected to the forthcoming election in Canada, Indo-Canadian Cabinet minister Anita Anand told the gathering, “We will make sure we have strong ties with nations whose people have immigrated here and settled here including my mother’s and father’s homeland of India.”
Anand, who is considered among Carney’s confidants, is currently the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry. In January she had announced she would not contest the federal poll but later changed that decision after being persuaded to do so by the PM.
Anand was born in the town of Kentville in the province of Nova Scotia but her parents, both medical professionals, are from India: Her late mother Saroj Ram from the Amritsar area in Punjab, and her father SV Anand, is a Tamilian.
On March 4, Carney, then a candidate for leadership of the ruling Liberal Party, said that if he became Prime Minister he will “rebuild” the trading relationship with India.
Responding to questions from the media in Calgary, Alberta, over the tariffs imposed upon Canada by the United States on Tuesday, Carney said, “What Canada will be looking to do is to diversify our trading relationships 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 and if I’m Prime Minister, I look forward to the opportunity to build that,” he added.
Relations between India and Canada cratered following then PM Justin Trudeau’s statement in the House of Commons on September 18, 2023 there were “credible allegations” of a potential link between Indian agents and the killing of pro-Khalistan figure Hardeep Singh Nijjar three months earlier in Surrey, British Columbia.
A month earlier, in August, Canada had paused negotiations on an Early Progress Trade Agreement (EPTA), which till then, both countries had been optimistic about finalizing in 2023 prior to the bilateral breakdown.
India
Cabinet Minister
Toronto
Mark Carney
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