Trade Minister Mary Ng suggested Wednesday that Canada won’t restart its trade talks with India until Narendra Modi’s government co-operates with the investigation into the murder of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Vancouver last June.
In a media scrum at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco, a reporter asked Ng whether there was a path back to resuming trade talks between the two countries.
“Right now, the focus for Canada is to let the work of the investigation proceed,” the minister said. “You’ve heard me and the government talk about how important it is that investigation happens given that we had a Canadian killed on Canadian soil. So we’ll let that happen.”
Ng said Canadian businesses continue to do business in India and her job as trade minister is to make sure they have the supports and tools they need.
When asked to clarify whether she was making a direct link between the need for co-operation on this investigation and the resumption of trade talks, Ng said no.
“Our focus is of course on this investigation, that work has to take place,” she said. “And for Canadian businesses, just to reassure them, because they expect that of their government, that the tools are available to them as they continue to do business and to invest and to make investments and attract investment, that the services of the Canadian government continue to be there for them.”
The scrum then ended.
India’s High Commissioner to Canada first told The Canadian Press in September that trade talks had been paused by Canada, without a complete explanation at that time.
It was later reported that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s national security adviser travelled to India last summer to confront Indian officials with evidence gathered by Five Eyes intelligence partners that suggested the Modi government was involved in Nijjar’s murder.
Who was Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the man India is accused of killing?
Featured VideoHardeep Singh Nijjar was a pro-Khalistan activist and the president of a Sikh temple in Surrey, B.C. His day job was working as a plumber. For years, the Indian government called him a terrorist — a claim Nijjar repeatedly denied. So, who was Nijjar, and why did India think he was such a danger?
Nijjar was shot dead outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, B.C., on June 18.
Following an uncomfortable trip to India for the G20 summit, where the murder was again raised in private, Trudeau rose in the House of Commons on Sept. 18 and publicly accused the Indian government of being involved in the killing.
India’s government rejected the allegation, calling it “absurd.”
India then threatened to revoke the diplomatic immunity of some Canadian diplomats, forcing the Canadian government to withdraw 41 Canadian diplomats from India.
The Canadian government has accused Modi’s government of failing to co-operate with its investigation into the murder.
Speaking to reporters in San Francisco on Thursday, Ian McKay, Canada’s ambassador to Japan, suggested that trade talks would resume once the Nijjar investigation is finished.
“Once that process has run its course, we expect to be able to move on in a more certain and aggressive way,” he said.
“I think it’s wise to pause at the moment while we deal with this issue, get through it and then focus all of our attention and energies on getting a good, substantial free trade deal with a partner with whom Canada does an enormous amount of trade.”
Allies like the U.S. and the U.K. have applied pressure on India to work with Canadian authorities on the ongoing criminal investigation into Nijjar’s killing.
Last Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken repeated his call for the government of India to co-operate with Canada on the ongoing criminal investigation into the killing of the Canadian in British Columbia.
Blinken said he raised the issue with his Indian counterpart, External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, in a meeting in New Delhi.
“These are two of our closest friends and partners, and of course we want to see them resolving any differences or disputes that they have,” Blinken told reporters.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
