Canada warms up to Modi
10 things to know about Indian prime minister’s first full day here
Charismatic Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Ottawa on Wednesday as part of a threeday visit to Canada.
Canada and India have moved beyond what was once a frosty relationship with a series of agreements and promises that will send Canadian uranium to the South Asian nation, liberalize visas for Canadian travellers, “soon” ratify a long- awaited foreign investment deal and lay a road map to complete stalled trade talks.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Narendra Modi announced Wednesday an agreement has been reached that will see Saskatchewan- based Cameco Corp. supply India with uranium to fuel the country’s nuclear power facilities.
Here are 10 things to know: 1 Getting a gift Returning stolen goods is always a good way to break the ice. During Modi’s visit to Parliament Hill, Harper presented him with a 900- year- old sandstone sculpture known as the Parrot Lady. The statue, which is believed to have been stolen from an Indian temple, was found in Canada in 2011. 2 And giving back Modi presented Canada with some ( paid- for) Indian artwork: A traditional miniature painting of Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism. The work’s creator, Virendra Bannu, is a seventh- generation miniature painter, Modi noted on his website. 3 Resetting the relationship After Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s 1973 visit with Pierre Trudeau, relations between the two nations were strained — India used Canadian technology intended for peaceful purposes to build an atomic bomb. Modi acknowledged Ottawa and New Delhi haven’t always seen eye to eye.
“Our relationship had drifted in the past. In recent years, Prime Minister Harper’s vision and leadership changed the course of our relations,” he said. 4 Nuclear know- how Speaking of nuclear, Cameco, a Saskatoon- based company, signed a $ 350- million deal to supply India with seven million pounds of uranium to fuel nuclear power plants. Modi said the agreement to buy the Saskatchewan- mined uranium “launches a new era of bilateral co- operation.” 5 Remembering the past Another sore point in Indo- Canadian relations: Canada- based extremists blew up an Air India flight in 1985 and Canadian law enforcement badly bungled the subsequent investigation. Wednesday in Toronto, Harper and Modi laid wreaths at an Air India memorial. 6 Closer co- operation promised India has terrorism concerns far beyond anything Canada could imagine, but Modi vowed to work more closely on security with Canada and poetically condemned the Oct. 22 attack on Parliament: “I feel that the Parliament is the temple of democracy, and an attack on the temple of democracy is not just a simple attack on a building, it is an attack on human values.” 7 Praising Punjabis Modi is Gujarati, an Indian ethnic group that includes Mohandas Gandhi and singer Freddie Mercury. However, most IndoCanadians are Punjabi in origin. In a tweet, the Indian PM paid homage to Canada’s many “Punjabi brothers and sisters, and praised their “renowned vigour and entrepreneurial drive.
8 Feeling at home According to Foreign Minister Jason Kenney’s Twitter feed, Modi “asked to see our House of Commons,” whose interior decor is remarkably similar to India’s Lok Sabha ( lower house of Parliament). Prepared for the request, the minister of defence produced a photo of Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, addressing the Commons in 1949. 9 Signing something Modi signed a visitors’ book on Parliament Hill, but not a freetrade deal, as Harper may have hoped. However, the Indian visitor promised New Delhi would “implement the road map” to get right on it. “These trade negotiations are never easy, but there is nothing about India, particularly given that it is a vibrant democracy, nothing that would preclude us from being able to ultimately conclude negotiations,” Harper said. 10 In translation Although Modi can speak English, unlike many of his predecessors, he prefers to converse in Hindi while on foreign trips — partly to avoid confusion and partly to curry favour with voters back home. As a result, aside from some prepared remarks, all of his comments came to Canadians by way of an interpreter.