What does Canada need to see to resume trade talks with India? Minister won't say
International Trade Minister Mary Ng won’t say which conditions India needs to meet for Canada to resume negotiating a free trade deal with the country, a process that’s been on pause since last September.
“We haven't made any decisions at this point,” she told CTV’s Question Period host Vassy Kapelos in an interview airing Sunday, adding she has plans to speak with her Indian counterpart in the coming days, and she continues “to support Canadian businesses.”
Relations between Canada and India have been strained since last September when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there was credible evidence the Indian government may have been involved in the murder of a Canadian Sikh leader in B.C. last summer.
India has denied the allegations, and initially refused to work with Canada on any investigation into the death. A week before the prime minister levelled that accusation against India, negotiations on a trade deal were abruptly halted.
Trudeau’s former national security advisor Jody Thomas told Kapelos on CTV’s Question Period last month that India is now cooperating with the investigation, describing the changing relationship as an “evolution.”
Ng, when pressed on what needs to happen for the two countries to resume negotiating a free trade deal, wouldn’t specify.
“We are in regular dialogue,” Ng said, when asked whether any progress on trade talks is contingent on cooperation with the investigation into Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s death, or whether Canada plans to wait until the investigation is concluded.
Ng said Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly has also recently met with her counterpart, and dialogue between ministers from both countries is ongoing.
“This is something that I want to make sure that we are doing, everything we can, looking after Canadian interests first and foremost, and I think Canadians can count on me for doing that,” she said.
Ng also said that while talks “continue to be paused,” she’s “heartened” to see business and investment between the two countries continue.
“I've been very clear with Canadians who are doing business that they can count on our support, and that continues,” she said. “We do want to and we are seeing encouraging signs of the investigation that is taking place, of course independently.”
When asked whether the talks are tied to the accusation levied by Trudeau against the Indian government, Ng said “it isn’t.”
But when pressed on the conditions for picking negotiations back up, if not contingent on the investigation into Nijjar’s death, Ng said “it is work that is ongoing.”
“And I will share with the Canadian public and with you more when I have more to share,” she said.
Kapelos then asked again how a lack of specificity around what Canada needs to see to resume trade talks should be interpreted.
“I think what you can interpret is that I'm happy to share more when I'm able to, and right now I've given you all of the update that that I'm able to,” Ng said.
In her interview, Ng also discussed the recently passed Canada-Ukraine trade bill, and the negotiating process around whether or not to include language around carbon pricing in the deal.
IN DEPTH
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6922467.1718138898!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
'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.
Supports for passengers, farmers, artists: 7 bills from MPs and Senators to watch in 2024
When parliamentarians return to Ottawa in a few weeks to kick off the 2024 sitting, there are a few bills from MPs and senators that will be worth keeping an eye on, from a 'gutted' proposal to offer a carbon tax break to farmers, to an initiative aimed at improving Canada's DNA data bank.
Opinion
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6850735.1713368648!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
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 Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6960763.1720739914!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
'It's scary': 3 Ontario men lose $373,000 to crypto investment fraud
Three men across Ontario are speaking out after losing hundreds of thousands of dollars to a cryptocurrency investment scam, including one man in Brampton who lost $226,000.
Black bear 'wreaked havoc' on car after being locked inside, RCMP say
A black bear accidentally got locked in a car in Coquitlam Thursday, destroying the interior before being freed by police.
One person in hospital after falling from swing ride at Canada's Wonderland
One person has been hospitalized after falling from a swing ride at Canada's Wonderland.
2 bodies believed to be from B.C. wash ashore Sable Island, N.S.
Nova Scotia RCMP say a boat containing the bodies of two people believed to be from British Columbia washed ashore the Sable Island National Park Reserve earlier this week.
These Picassos prompted a gender war at an Australian gallery. Now the curator says she painted them
They were billed as artworks by Pablo Picasso, paintings so valuable that an Australian art museum’s decision to display them in an exhibition restricted to women visitors provoked a gender discrimination lawsuit. The paintings again prompted international headlines when the gallery re-hung them in a women’s restroom to sidestep a legal ruling that said men could not be barred from viewing them.
No drinking water at McGill University Hospital Centre after major aqueduct failure
The MUHC says it has no potable water at its facilities at the Glen site after a major aqueduct failure.
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez publicly list their house for sale
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez have added a tiny bit of fuel to the fire surrounding their marriage. Amid speculation that the pair are struggling in their relationship after marrying about two years ago, the couple has listed their 12-bedroom, 24-bathroom California home for sale.
Is there a solution to the rising cost of infant formula in Canada?
An Ontario mother says the increasing cost of baby formula for her seven month old is stressful. Since Samantha Krobel's child was born in November 2023, she says the cost of formula has gone up roughly $12.
Community evacuated in northern Alberta as wildfire creeps closer to highway
A northern Alberta community declared a local state of emergency Thursday after wildfires close to it forced the evacuation of almost 1,000 residents.
Local Spotlight
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6959627.1720702616!/httpImage/image.png_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.png)
Ontario dad highlights Calgary Flames' act of kindness
Seven-year-old goalie Hudson Hardill is an unlikely Calgary Flames fan, being that he lives in Peterborough, Ont., and his dad Chris is a Toronto Maple Leafs fan.
'I nearly died': WestJet employee and Spice Girls superfan dances with Mel C
A WestJet employee's chance encounter on a recent flight spiced up her life in a big way.
He thought his gnomes were stolen. But then a secret society returned them
A Kelowna, B.C., man says he's always liked gnomes because they have a 'bit of mystery' to them. And he recently got a taste of that whimsy when his garden gnomes disappeared, and came back to him in a peculiar fashion.
Toronto's iconic 'Leslieville dollhouse' set to hit the market on Thursday
After more than 50 years, Toronto's iconic 'Leslieville dollhouse' will soon have a new owner.
Little free Blockbuster set up in Winnipeg
One man is bringing a blast from the past to a Winnipeg community.
'Her whole future ahead of her': Sask. photographer captures Manitoba graduate posing on iceberg
Some say a photograph is simply a memory frozen in time – and a high school graduation photo taken in Churchill, Man. takes that adage to a completely new level.
'Tears come to my eyes': Track star and family granted extension to stay in Canada after deportation order
A rising track and field star overcame a big hurdle in his dream to represent Canada at the Olympics.
B.C. buyers who backed out of home purchase ordered to pay more than $350K in damages
Would-be homebuyers who backed out of a deal to purchase a B.C. property in a hot real estate market have been ordered to pay the seller the difference between what they offered and what he was able to sell the home for when the market cooled.
Look at this photograph: Ottawa city councillor meets his rock star idols Nickelback
Ottawa city councillor Tim Tierney has waited decades for the chance to meet his rock-star idols Nickelback.