Toronto: With Ottawa accusing New Delhi of foreign interference, and violent criminal activity in its territory, that has taken a toll on public perception of India in Canada. A survey published on Tuesday found that 60% of the sample held an unfavourable view of India, more than double the 26% who viewed it favourably.
The poll was conducted by the non-profit Angus Reid Institute (ARI) in partnership with the Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada (APF) Canada. ARI stated that “favourable views of India have plummeted from a high of 56% in January 2020 to 26% today. The inverse negative view has more than doubled.”
“When Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy came out two years ago, India was noted as a critical partner and that’s how Canadians viewed India, as a partner, as a friend, as a country with which we wanted to do more. In the course of basically just less than two years we’re seeing a completely different picture,” APF Canada’s Vice-President, Research & Strategy Vina Nadjibulla told the Hindustan Times.
Canadians still appear to want Ottawa to strengthen trade ties with India. Nearly two-third of respondents, 64%, said Canada “should at minimum, ‘cautiously’ attempt to re-open trade negotiations on a free trade agreement with India, a finding slightly boosted by threats from incoming US President Donald Trump of blanket 25% tariffs on Canadian exports,” ARI noted. “Canadians are being pragmatic especially in the current context of potential trade wars and tariffs that they do recognize with India’s of important global player,” Nadjibulla said.
Canadians also appear to find suspect the handling of the relationship by the Government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. More of the respondents, 39%, felt Ottawa wasn’t handling ties well as against 32% who felt the opposite. A similar number, 39%, felt there will be no improvement under Trudeau. At the same time, 34% held the same opinion of future of the relation under India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “There is a recognition that, especially in the Canadian context, that this looks very much as personalised,” Nadjibulla said.
Given that Trudeau is trailing in polls and is expected to be ousted when the next Federal election, scheduled for October 2025, are held, the situation could change but negativity will bleed into the tenure of any new government which will have to take into consideration the public mood. As Nadjibulla stressed, “In a democracy like Canada public opinion matters and this kind of situation where the majority of Canadians want to approach India with caution or have low levels of trust or don’t see it as a friendly state, that will have implications for any future government in Ottawa.”
Bilateral ties between India and Canada collapsed last year after Trudeau’s statement in the House of Commons on September 18 last year there were “credible allegations” of a potential link between Indian agents and the killing of pro-Khalistan figure Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia, three months earlier. Ties worsened this October after Ottawa accused six Indian diplomats and officials of being “persons of interest” in investigations into violent criminal acts in Canada. That resulted in New Delhi withdrawing the six officials and expelling six Canadian diplomats.