Washington, March 5 Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney has praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership and governance record, highlighting his relentless work ethic and focus on delivering to ordinary citizens, while signalling a push to deepen ties between Ottawa and New Delhi.
Speaking at the Lowy Institute think-tank in Sydney, Australia, on Wednesday (local time), Carney described Modi as a unique and highly disciplined leader who maintains an intense political schedule.
“There's, look, the guy's, he's unique. I would say, you know, 25 years, and he has not taken a day off, 25 years straight as either chief minister in Gujarat or prime minister, not one day off,” Carney said while reflecting on his recent interactions with the Indian leader.
He added that PM Modi’s political outreach remains remarkably extensive.
“Every weekend he is out campaigning, he gets 250,000 people at his rallies,” Carney said, pointing to the Indian leader’s ability to mobilise mass support across the country.
Carney said his meetings with PM Modi offered insights into the governing philosophy behind India’s economic reforms and digital transformation, particularly the effort to directly reach ordinary households.
“He's a person who is very focused on delivery, I'll call it to the rural household, but, you know, to the person on the street,” Carney said.
He highlighted how financial and technological reforms under Modi were aimed at strengthening direct benefit transfers and reducing leakages in public spending.
“A huge motivation for the financial reform transformations, the payment system transformation, UPI and other things was to get money directly to individuals without leakage in the system in real time, and to bring people, hundreds of millions of people, into the formal economy,” he said.
Carney said he was struck by PM Modi’s emphasis on maintaining a grassroots perspective even while operating at the highest levels of global diplomacy.
“Here he is, you know, up at this global level, operating India Rising, much positive. But a leader who keeps bringing it back down to that level,” Carney said, referring to the Indian Prime Minister’s focus on citizens’ everyday concerns.
The Canadian leader also suggested that India’s longstanding strategic outlook had anticipated many of the geopolitical shifts now reshaping the international system.
“Their attitude would be, well, what took you so long to figure that out? I mean, we've been non-aligned since regaining independence in 1947,” he said while discussing the changing global order.
Carney indicated that Canada sees significant potential for cooperation with India in emerging technologies and strategic sectors.
“There’s a variety of aspects around AI where we would cooperate with India, in part because we need to build resilience in AI,” he said.
He also acknowledged that relations between the two countries had faced serious challenges but said both governments were working to rebuild the partnership.
“We've made a lot of progress in the last 11 months with India both economically, but also in the broader security relationship. More to be done without question,” Carney said.
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