PM's attempt to re-engage Canada

The forthcoming visit of prime minister Manmohan Singh to Canada on June 26 and 27 to participate in the G-20 summit and to hold bilateral discussions with his Canadian counterpart Stephen Harper signifies India’s re-engagement with Canada. The most significant aspect of the visit as far as bilateral relationship is concerned will be signing of the nuclear deal with Canada. Besides, there is a possibility that the two prime ministers may sign more agreements. Canada is a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

Although both Canada and India are two of the world’s largest and oldest democracies that share values of federalism and multiculturalism, the relationship between the two countries in the past has suffered benign neglect and its potential has not been fully realised.

There is great scope and prospect for the bilateral relationship between Ottawa and New Delhi at a time when India has entered into strategic partnership with USA, a close ally of Canada.

Notwithstanding their physical distance, the two countries which have federal systems and coalition politics, historically had a convergence of approach and outlook to many international issues. It is worth recalling that in the first decades after Independence in 1947, under the leadership of prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Lester Pearson of Canada, the two countries had a ‘special relationship.’

Much in common

Although Canada is a liberal democracy and India opted for a socialistic pattern of society in the nascent years of Independence, the liberalism of the two countries, have much in common. Canada was not averse to Nehru’s socialism. In fact there was a perceptible resonance between India’s formulation of non-alignment and Canada’s commitment to neutrality in international relations inspite of its membership to NATO.

According to Arthur Rubinoff, an authority on Indo-Canadian relations, University of Toronto, in the early years after Indian independence, there was a fundamental convergence in the approach to world affairs between New Delhi and Ottawa on such issues as Commonwealth, the UN and the situation in Asia. The Commonwealth provided and continues to provide an ideal forum to Canada and India to work in creating, what  Rubinoff calls, an international grouping that served as a bridge between the established western democracies and the new multiracial successor states of the British empire.
In the 1950s, Canada was an important development partner for India even in sensitive areas like nuclear energy. The Rajasthan Atomic Power Station (RAPS) I & II depended to a large extent on supply of uranium from Canada. However, estrangement in the bilateral relationship developed later, first after India’s peaceful nuclear explosion of 1974, and then again after the Indian nuclear tests of May 1998 which impelled Ottawa to suspend the supply of uranium to RAPS.

The visit of Canadian prime minister Jean Chretien, to India in October 2003 was a landmark event in the bilateral relationship. In their joint statement they announced an India-Canada partnership for the 21st century at the government, business and civil society levels, spelling out the road-map for future relations.

The rediscovery of India by Canada was the result of the economic reform and liberation process initiated by India in July 1991, the end of the cold war, the realisation dawning on Canada that it should expand its economic engagement in markets other than USA.
As a consequence, Canadian companies are now enjoying increasing success in India in traditional areas of their expertise such as power, communications and transportation and new areas like environmental technology and agro-processing items. With the signing of the nuclear deal, it is possible to explore further nuclear cooperation between the two countries.

India’s inclusive global engagement provides enough space for an engagement with Canada. The two countries being leading members of the Commonwealth and of the Colombo Plan, they can utilise these fora to forge a bonding with the Afro-Asian countries. Leaders of the two countries should also utilise the Commonwealth platform for exchange of views on regional and international issues. Besides, the political spectrum, in today’s Canada, a number of Indians have distinguished themselves in fields as diverse as academics and agriculture. There are quite a few Indians who have occupied high positions both in the government and the academia, whose services need to leveraged for better bonding between the two countries.

(The writer is senior fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis, New Delhi)