Last month, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service pointed fingers at India over a matter grave enough to have the potential of being the final nail in the coffin of Canada-India relations. “India and China are likely to try to interfere in the general election on April 28, while Russia and Pakistan have the potential to do so,” Vanessa Lloyd, deputy director of operations at CSIS, said in a press conference addressing the upcoming snap elections on April 28. In a report, released in January, the probe concludes that Canada was slow in responding to efforts by China and India to interfere in 2019 and 2021 elections. It also says that Canada’s final election outcomes were, however, unaffected by the meddling.
The report calls both India and China as “hostile state actors” and how they were leveraging artificial intelligence to meddle in elections. Canada’s public inquiry into foreign interference also placed India “as the second most active country engaging in electoral foreign interference after China.” Lloyd further said “the threat actors” had concealed their foreign interference activities making it a challenge to detect such forces.
India, a critical actor with capability: Report
The report also calls India, “a critical actor on the world stage, with intent and capability” to meddle in the elections. New Delhi, understandably, is not amused.
Shortly afterwards, India’s Ministry of External Affairs rejected the report and countered the claim by saying that in fact, “it is Canada that has been consistently interfering in India’s internal affairs.” In a statement, the MEA added, “We have seen a report about alleged activities concerning purported interference. It is, in fact, Canada which has been consistently interfering in India’s internal affairs. This has also created an environment for illegal migration and organised criminal activities. We reject the report’s insinuations regarding India and expect that the support system enabling illegal migration will not be further countenanced.”
Not the first time, nor the last time
There are many issues that the two nations don’t see eye to eye on. However, the verbal spats between the two have accelerated since India hosted the G20 in 2023 and shortly thereafter then PM Justin Trudeau accused India of killing a Canadian citizen on foreign soil. After intense two years of verbal spats, diplomatic blows and tit-for-tat measures later, the exchange of allegations hasn’t stopped.
New Delhi has dismissed Canada’s public inquiry on foreign interference even in the past, during 2019 and 2021 elections. In October 2024, the expulsion of six Indian diplomats by Canada was followed by rumours and labels of them being “Indian agents.” These very claims have also been touched upon in the report.
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India shortly afterwards followed suit by expelling six Canadian diplomats. Both sides have since accused the other of resorting to “disinformation” as a retaliatory tactic. The recent developments between the two nations, partly explain why the allegations of Indian interference is a popular rhetoric in Canada, especially during election time.
Trading verbal blows
Following the reports alleging that India meddled to favour Canada’s Conservative Party, by fundraising and organising events within its South Asian community, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre dismissed the report stating he won his leadership in 2022, “fair and square.”
In the early days of election campaigning this year, Prime Minister Mark Carney also faced scrutiny and queries over whether foreign interference concerns had resulted in the ouster of a candidate due to alleged ties to India.
While the questions were particularly fielded in connection with Liberal leadership hopeful Chandra Arya, who was disqualified amid reports of his close ties to India, Carney told reporters gathered at the conference that “hostile actors were not to blame for the party’s delay in fielding candidates.”
Earlier this year, Canadian media widely reported the decision of the ruling Liberal Party revoking the candidacy of Indo-Canadian Chandra Arya being based on “unspecified information.” On the other hand, investigative reports openly point out to Poilievres’ Conservatives having deepened ties with India’s right wing ecosystem.
The allegations from both sides have further been strengthened or weakened by world leaders, depending on their alliances. As Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni recently said how the “Conservatives were collaborating globally.”
What makes both Canada and India widely invested in each other is trade, commerce and staggering numbers of the diaspora community. Canada, being home to over 1.8 million people of Indian origin, can easily be the frontier for meddling by either of the nations. It would help if both leveraged those numbers to trade the immense opportunities and not blows.
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