After almost a decade of talks, trips, and tiffs, there is no sign Canada and India will sign a soon Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), said Canada’s High Commissioner to India, Nadir Patel.

Despite this, bilateral trade between the two countries is growing rapidly. It grew by 60 percent in the last five years to USD 9 billion and is expected to triple in the next few years.

“I don’t think finalization of the trade agreement will take place soon as negotiations are going on at a slow pace, but both sides are keen,” Patel told PTI in an interview.

“The fact is Canada is a free trading economy, we are trade libraries while India remains a protective economy in many sectors and that is the reason, but negotiations are going on and we expect to conclude it at some point,” he said.

Patel said no new discussions have been slated on the matter.

Patel, who is of Gujarati origin and has almost completed five years as ambassador to India, said trade growth has been robust in the last five years.

“Bilateral trade between the two nations grew by 60 percent in last five years to USD 9 billion, and it is expected to triple to USD 30 billion in the next few years and the overall target of growth is USD 50 billion,” he said.

“Investment by Canadian companies in India has gone up to over USD 25 billion from USD 4.5 billion in the last few years.

Over 1,000 Canadian companies have invested in India,” he said.

Patel said his country’s government will organize roadshows across different cities in Gujarat this fall to bring more Canadian companies here, as the feedback of other companies operating in the state has been very positive.

“We want to have a greater focus on the Indian investment coming to Canada also,” he said.

Though trade ties will be the key between the two countries, Canada also wants to focus on security, defense, cultural and people-to-people relationship, he said.

“To make the relationship vibrant, our focus is also on areas like security, defense, culture. Among other things, the areas of cooperation also include the social fabric of the country in which we are looking for improving cooperation in sectors like diversity and inclusiveness growth of women in a leadership position,” he said.

According to Patel, Canada has a very open immigration policy and the country does not discriminate against anyone on the basis of religion, culture or ethnicity.

He said the people of Indian origin form four percent of the total Canadian population. The number of Indian students is the highest in Canada and education ties is a win-win for both the countries, he added.

One of the biggest issues between the two nations has been the Khalistan extremist groups which dominated during Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s visit to India last year.

Patel said one issue cannot define ties.

“The relationship is far more resilient than to be side-tracked by any one issue. Trade ties are growing at record numbers and so are culture ties, which is its proof.

“Let me just clarify that vast majority of Sikh community in Canada is peace-loving, but there may be certain individuals whose viewpoints do not coincide with that of India’s,” he said.

“Our government has made it clear that Canada does not want the breakup of India and we will take the case of extremist elements very seriously if they break any laws. We are working closely with Indian security agencies on this,” he said.

“Countries will have issues between them, but friends can work their way around it and that is evident in the form of relationship between our two countries,” he said.

The inclusion of clauses related to environmentalism, labour, and human rights as part of a free-trade deal, along with India’s insistence in protecting certain sectors like agriculture, may continue to drive a wedge in critical talks, wrote Mohit Verma, a Post-Graduate Research Scholar at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.

“While negotiations toward a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) through which Canada could have gained US$6-15 billion in free trade with India have been put on hold, there is still a strong chance that India will feature prominently as a foreign policy issue in Canada’s own federal elections this fall,” stated Verma.

“Trudeau, New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh, and Conservative leader Andrew Scheer all recognize the importance of maintaining relations with India and understand the gains Canada could see from a free trade agreement with the world’s most populous democracy.

As Modi assumes his second term as prime minister and Canada gears up for its own elections, both Trudeau and NDP leader Singh will need to clearly outline their stance on the Khalistan separatist movement,” he added.

Meanwhile, a Toronto-based Sikh advocacy organization is suing the Indian government for $2.5 million following Indian-media stories alleging Canadian Sikhs are behind a new campaign of violence in the state of Punjab.

Lawyers for Sikhs for Justice filed the defamation suit in Ontario Superior Court on July 8.

It describes three specific news stories in the Times of India, India Today TV and the Business Standard that say Sikhs for Justice is working with Pakistan's intelligence agency to promote violence and revive militancy in the state of Punjab.

Jatinder Singh Grewal, the international policy director for Sikhs for Justice, says unnamed Indian government sources are behind the false information in the articles.

Sikhs for Justice is part of a campaign to hold a global referendum next year to gauge the support of Sikhs around the world for creating an independent Sikh state known as Khalistan.

Grewal says there are fears these same tactics will be employed by the Indian government to attempt to sway Indo-Canadian voters against candidates in the upcoming Canadian election whom India views as favourable to Khalistan.