Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his leadership, discipline and focus on delivering benefits to citizens, while signalling Canada’s intent to deepen cooperation with India across key sectors.
Speaking at the Lowy Institute in Sydney on Wednesday (local time), Carney described PM Modi as a “unique” leader with an exceptional work ethic, noting his long public service without a break.
“The guy is unique. He has not taken a day off in 25 years, either as Chief Minister of Gujarat or as Prime Minister,” Carney said while reflecting on his interactions with the Indian leader.
He also highlighted PM Modi’s extensive political outreach and ability to connect with large audiences across the country. According to Carney, the Indian Prime Minister maintains a rigorous schedule and regularly addresses massive rallies during political campaigns.
Carney said his meetings with PM Modi offered insights into the philosophy behind India’s economic reforms and governance model, particularly the emphasis on direct delivery of benefits to ordinary citizens.
“He is a person who is very focused on delivery – to the rural household, to the person on the street,” Carney said.
The Canadian leader pointed to India’s digital transformation, including the development of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), as a key example of reforms aimed at improving transparency and efficiency.
“A huge motivation for financial reform and the transformation of payment systems like UPI was to get money directly to individuals without leakage and in real time, and to bring hundreds of millions of people into the formal economy,” he said.
Carney noted that despite operating at the global level as the leader of a rapidly growing economy, PM Modi continues to emphasise the everyday concerns of citizens.
“Here he is operating at the global level with India rising, but he keeps bringing it back down to that level,” he said, referring to the Prime Minister’s focus on grassroots delivery.
Discussing the evolving global order, Carney said India’s strategic outlook had long anticipated geopolitical shifts.
“Their attitude would be, well, what took you so long to figure that out? We have been non-aligned since regaining independence in 1947,” he remarked.
Carney also expressed optimism about expanding cooperation between the two countries in emerging technologies and strategic sectors, including artificial intelligence.
“There are various aspects around AI where we would cooperate with India, in part because we need to build resilience in AI,” he said.
Acknowledging that relations between the two countries had faced challenges in recent years, the Canadian Prime Minister said both sides were working to rebuild the partnership.
“We’ve made a lot of progress in the last 11 months with India both economically and in the broader security relationship. More needs to be done without question,” he said.
Carney added that Canada sees strong opportunities to support India’s energy needs and deepen economic engagement. He also pointed to the deep people-to-people ties between the two nations, noting that nearly two million Canadians trace their origins to India.
(With agency inputs)
