By Bhupinder Singh Liddar
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s visit to India seems to be part of a game plan to garner Indo-Canadian votes, for one can find no other credible reason for the weeklong visit.
In fairness to Trudeau, he is not the first Canadian politician to be tempted by the lure of Indo-Canadian votes. Previous and current prime ministers, provincial premiers and political party leaders have beaten the path to India for the same reason, often under the guise of trade missions. Trudeau’s visit is also being touted as a trade mission. Realistically, there is not much hope of an increase in Canada’s trade with India of $7 billion, which is worth only one week of Canada’s trade with USA!
Trudeau’s predecessor, Stephen Harper, tried and failed to successfully negotiate a Canada-India free trade agreement. In November 2010, International Trade Minister Peter Van Loan launched free trade negotiations with much fanfare in New Delhi. His successor, Ed Fast, following Harper’s visit to India in 2012, and Indian-origin Minister Bal Gosal frequently held roundtable discussions with Indo-Canadian businesspeople in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal to provide updates on the talks. It was a blatant gesture to appease the Indo-Canadian vote. Ultimately, after almost a decade of discussions, nothing was delivered. Incidentally, there is no mention of Free Trade Agreement during Trudeau’s visit.
While India’s 7 per cent growth rate looks impressive, there are far too many obstacles ranging from red tape, uncooperative bureaucracy and corruption make it formidable for Canadian businesses to negotiate or operate smoothly in India. In World Bank’s Doing Business, during the last decade India has ranked in 130th place. These rankings are based on the country’s performance in several areas, like starting a business, getting construction permits, getting electricity, contract enforcement, etc.
Prime Minister Jean Chrétien was the first Canadian Prime Minister to visit Amritsar and has been followed by all his successors. Chrétien opened the first Canadian Consulate office in India, in Chandigarh, in 2004 and I accompanied him as the first Canadian Consul General appointee.
Prime Minister Paul Martin, visited India in January 2005, immediately after becoming prime minister the month before. During Martin’s visit to India there was work done on creating G-20 Group, made up of developing & developed economies, to discuss global issues. The then Prime Minister of India was invited to visit Canada but it did not transpire because of Martin’s short-lived government.
In 2000, on becoming premier of British Columbia, Ujjal Dosanjh, a self-confessed darling of Indian government, dashed to his native land generating much controversy. CBC reported Dosanjh’s staff did not release his official schedule in India and his “private holiday” turned into a state visit with meetings with Indian prime minister and other senior government officials. These were heavily covered by Indian media, for obvious consumption back in BC for use in an impending election. A friend of the premier, who happens to be an NDP fund-raiser, was on the trip as well. Dosanjh signed an agreement between the B.C. government and India but did not release any details, according to CBC news.
Reform Party leader, Preston Manning was lured to visit Amritsar in 1998, at the urging of newly-minted Indian-origin Sikh MP Gurmant Singh Grewal.
Premiers Christy Clark of B.C. and Kathleen Wynne of Ontario have also led business delegations to India, more for political consumption than economic benefits.
Immigration, though not mentioned officially or openly, is another area of much interest to Indo-Canadian community. India has been one of the top sources of immigration to Canada over the last decade. “Canada and India share a special bond, and are linked be tremendous people-to-people connections. The more than one million Canadians of India origin make the relationship between our two countries a truly special one,” according to Prime Minister Trudeau.
However, not all Indo-Canadians are enthused by the Trudeau visit. While Sikhs in Canada are moved by Prime Minister’s gesture to visit their holy shrine, the Golden Temple, in Amritsar, Punjab, they are not enamoured by politicians’ visits to India, as a large number of Sikhs came as refugees following the 2004 Sikh riots in Delhi, in which thousands were killed, following Indira Gandhi’s assassination by her Sikh body guards. The assassination was in revenge for Gandhi’ order for the army to attack the Golden Temple and 17 other places of Sikh worship on a day of religious celebration resulting in death of countless innocent worshippers coming to the temple that day.
Hence, other than hoping to garner Indo-Canadian votes, there is not much to be gained by Trudeau’s India visit, except, of course, provide refuge for the Prime Minister from Ottawa’s deep freeze!
Bhupinder S. Liddar, is a former Canadian diplomat, and was Canada’s first Consul General appointed in Chandigarh, in October 2004. He can be contacted at [email protected]
