Ng announces India trade mission, pledges a limited deal within months
Trade Minister Mary Ng is expected to lead a trade mission to India this fall, and says it is "not going to be years" before Canada signs some form of trade agreement, more than a decade after negotiations began.
She made the comments at the end of a visit this week by Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, who Ng noted brought leaders of large Indian businesses to Ottawa and Toronto.
"Having India here is a testament to our strong bilateral trade relationship and our commitment to keep doing this work," Ng said.
Since March 2022, the two countries have been negotiating what's called an Early Progress Trade Agreement, a deal restricted to certain industries instead of the entire economy.
The talks follow a five-year hiatus, after both countries entered negotiations in 2010 for a comprehensive deal but abandoned the plans in 2017.
In a joint statement, Ng and Goyal said they seek "enhanced co-operation" in the fields of "agricultural goods, chemicals, green technologies, infrastructure, automotive, clean energy, electronics and minerals and metals."
It's unclear which of those fields would be part of an interim deal and which would be held off for later talks about a larger agreement, but Ng said she's not worried about Canada getting stuck in the interim phase.
"This is a relationship that we are building, and that will endure, and that is very much a part of Canada's Indo-Pacific strategy," she said.
When asked whether getting the interim deal inked would take months or years, Ng said it was "not going to be years."
She noted that since the formal launch of negotiations, there have been seven rounds of talks, and she said a deadline isn't needed.
"If we continue at this pace, and make the continued progress that we both wish to see occur, then I think we will get there."
Industry groups have been urging Canada to push for a deal to be signed this year, but a former Canadian envoy to India, Nadir Patel, said a deadline would likely make it harder for both sides to feel like they reached a fair agreement that they actually want to use.
"Putting timelines on something like this is not the most effective way at driving towards a conclusion. Because what trumps timelines really would be a desire on both sides to have a win-win agreement," said Patel, a former trade negotiator.
"I'm cautiously optimistic that a deal can be concluded in relatively short order, but by no means is it a fait accompli."
Patel noted that Goyal is a prominent minister in the government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and he argued the visit can help get things back on track after the COVID-19 pandemic and elections put talks on pause.
"There was clearly a priority placed on forging closer trade, economic and by extension, bilateral ties, and I think that bodes well for Canada and India," said Patel, a senior strategic adviser with Norton Rose Fulbright Canada.
He said the interim deal could lower tariffs in industries that neither side see as sensitive, as a low-hanging fruit that could stimulate more economic growth.
It would also make it clear that the two countries can rely on each other amid a push by the U.S. to limit economic exposure to China by preferring partnerships with likeminded allies -- a policy called friendshoring.
"Against the backdrop of friendshoring, concluding an early agreement sends a signal to business that Canada is a country that Indian companies can trade with."
He noted that the Liberals seem to be doing the right thing by increasingly meeting in person, since doing business in India requires building relationships.
"The momentum is well on a strong trajectory," Patel said.
Ng is scheduled to visit India in August for a G20 trade meeting, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is widely expected to go to New Delhi the next month for the G20 leaders' summit.
In October, Ng said she'll lead a "team Canada trade mission," which generally means a visit of business heads and provincial officials.
While leaks to media have suggested the interim trade deal was gummed up last fall on numerous fronts, Goyal told reporters Monday that teams have made "significant progress" in recent months.
"Early completion of the Early Progress Agreement is something that will send a strong signal to the rest of the world about the strengthening relationship between these two countries," he said.
Neither minister said which sticking points remain, though India has typically protected whole industries from foreign competition, while sudden regulatory changes on agricultural imports have riled up Canadian farmers.
This week's joint statement also notes that New Delhi wants Canada's top universities to set up campuses in India, and that the countries have relaunched a joint CEO forum.
Meanwhile, the NDP has urged Canada to be more vocal on concerns about India's treatment of minorities. Human Rights Watch has called out Modi's government for a "serious regression in human rights and constitutional protections," and the NDP want a boycott of certain G20 events.
Ng said Canadians endeavour to raise "really important" values with their counterparts while still broadening commerce.
"I think that you could stand up for human rights and Canadian values and also pursue a trade relationship with a democracy," she said.
"We are both countries who respect the rule of law, and we're committed to the rules-based international order."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2023.
IN DEPTH
Jagmeet Singh pulls NDP out of deal with Trudeau Liberals, takes aim at Poilievre Conservatives
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has pulled his party out of the supply-and-confidence agreement that had been helping keep Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's minority Liberals in power.
'Not the result we wanted': Trudeau responds after surprise Conservative byelection win in Liberal stronghold
Conservative candidate Don Stewart winning the closely-watched Toronto-St. Paul's federal byelection, and delivering a stunning upset to Justin Trudeau's candidate Leslie Church in the long-time Liberal riding, has sent political shockwaves through both parties.
'We will go with the majority': Liberals slammed by opposition over proposal to delay next election
The federal Liberal government learned Friday it might have to retreat on a proposal within its electoral reform legislation to delay the next vote by one week, after all opposition parties came out to say they can't support it.
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½
BREAKING
Three men were injured after a man armed with a knife entered a Montreal-area Islamic cultural centre Friday afternoon.
A 15-year-old boy who was the subject of an emergency alert in New Brunswick has been arrested.
Police have arrested an 18-year-old woman who allegedly stole a Porche and then ran over its owner in an incident that was captured on video.
Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.
The parents of a teenager who died after allegedly consuming the poisonous products of a Mississauga man are now suing him, as well as several doctors involved in her care.
11-year-old boy dies after subway surfing in NYC
An 11-year-old boy died Monday after subway surfing in New York City. He's the fourth person to die from subway surfing in the city this year.
The search for a missing six-year-old boy in Shamattawa is continuing Friday as RCMP hope recent tips can help lead to a happy conclusion.
Recall issued for 38,000 GM vehicles in Canada over software safety glitch
Transport Canada has issued a recall for 38,000 General Motors (GM) vehicles for safety risks related to a software glitch, the agency reported in a notice on Wednesday.
Top Hezbollah commander among 12 killed in Israeli strike on Beirut
Israel killed a top Hezbollah commander and other senior figures in the Lebanese movement in an airstrike on Beirut on Friday, vowing to press on with a new military campaign until it is able to secure the area around the Lebanese border.
Local Spotlight
Getting a photograph of a rainbow? Common. Getting a photo of a lightning strike? Rare. Getting a photo of both at the same time? Extremely rare, but it happened to a Manitoba photographer this week.
They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.
A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.
Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.
The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.
It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.
A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.
David Krumholtz, known for roles like Bernard the Elf in The Santa Clause and physicist Isidor Rabi in Oppenheimer, has spent the latter part of his summer filming horror flick Altar in Winnipeg. He says Winnipeg is the most movie-savvy town he's ever been in.