Hopes for a reset

Carney victory signals improvement in Indo-Canadian ties

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Two developments in the recent Canadian elections offer hope for a thaw in Indo-Canadian relations, which have been in the deep freeze since mid-2023. The first is the victory of the Liberal Party, under former central banker and economist Mark Carney, who replaced Justin Trudeau as Prime Minister in mid-March. The second is the resounding defeat of the Liberal Party's India-baiting parliamentary ally Jagmeet Singh and his New Democratic Party (NDP), which came in a distant fourth. Mr Carney, who steered the Bank of England as governor through Brexit between 2013 and 2020, is known to be a pragmatist. In an interview on Monday, he deployed temperate language in his references to India, describing relations as "incredibly important" and speaking of the importance of deep ties between the two countries "economically and strategically".