Canada Courts a World Power

By Henry Srebrnik, [Summerside, PEI] Journal Pioneer

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have declared 2011 the Year of India in Canada.

India has become one of the world’s most powerful nations, politically, militarily and economically.

In 2010, bilateral merchandise trade between Canada and India totalled $4.2 billion, an increase of 73 percent since 2004. Canadian merchandise exports to India increased 142 percent over this period, reaching nearly $2.1 billion in 2010. Two-way direct investment was more than $7 billion. But India remains Canada’s 15th-largest trading partner, and Canada ranks just 33rd on India’s list.

Canada and India have now entered formal discussions for a comprehensive free trade pact that could be worth $6 billion a year. India has also announced plans to locate North America’s first Indian Cultural Centre in Toronto.

This makes perfect sense. About 1 million Canadians of Indian origin live in this country, more than half of them in Toronto, which is home to the largest Hindu temple in Canada.

Toronto also recently became the first North American city to host the “Indian Oscars,” the International Indian Film Academy awards. The awards gala drew an audience of 22,000 in the Rogers Centre, with another 700 million worldwide viewing it on television.

India is now the largest producer of films in the world, and its production centre in Mumbai, formerly Bombay, has given the industry the informal name “Bollywood.”

Also, after China, India has the largest diaspora in the world, estimated at 25 million people, living in countries such as Australia, Britain, Canada, and the United States.

India retains strong links with its diaspora. It even issues Person of Indian Origin cards to people of Indian background living abroad, allowing them, according to the government, “to reconnect with their roots, as well as to respect their desire to participate in the development of the country of their origin.”

As India’s economy continues to strengthen, a growing middle class in the country seeks quality education for their children at the university level, and universities in India can’t keep up with the demand.

So about 160,000 Indian students are enrolled at universities abroad, mainly in Australia and the United States – but only 3,000 are studying in Canada.

Canadian universities are now working hard to recruit more Indian students. Senior Indian and Canadian university leaders and government officials recently attended a Canada-India education summit at Carleton University in Ottawa.

Some Canadian univerisites are also creating joint study or research programs with Indian universities.

York University’s Schulich School of Business plans to build a campus in Hyderabad, and the University of Waterloo is considering doing the same.

What a difference a century makes. In 1911, when India was a colony within the British Empire, King George V and Queen Mary had their durbar in Delhi. A durbar was a mass gathering in Delhi to commemorate the coronation of a British king and queen as emperor and empress of India.

A description of the event noted that Silver medal 1911, British India“The Sovereigns had appeared in their Coronation robes, the King-Emperor wearing the Imperial Crown of India with eight arches, containing six thousand one hundred and seventy exquisitely cut diamonds and covered with sapphires, emeralds and rubies.”

A feature film, titled “With Our King and Queen Through India,” was released a year later. This was the high tide of British imperialism. It must have seemed to those in attendance that it would never end.

Yet, just 36 years later, a near-bankrupt Britain granted India (and Pakistan) their independence. Nothing lasts forever.