Spring Has Come – Now Comes the Hard Work

Dear friends

There are moments in the life of any long effort when the air simply feels different. When the work of years suddenly becomes visible. When the people you have been trying to convince are already convinced, and the conversation shifts – almost without you noticing from why to how.

April 14, 2026, was one of those moments for us.

Walking into Parliament Hill on Vaisakhi morning, leading a CIF delegation that had come to Ottawa with a message of urgency and optimism, I could feel something that had been absent for too long – a genuine, unforced sense that Canada and India are ready to move forward together. Not cautiously. Not reluctantly. But with the kind of purposeful energy that serious partnerships require.

The day ended at the official residence of His Excellency Dinesh Patnaik, High Commissioner of India to Canada, who opened his home to our delegation, to Members of Parliament from across party lines, and to Ottawa’s Indo-Canadian community in an atmosphere of celebration, candour, and genuine friendship.

H.E. Patnaik spoke with clarity and warmth about where this relationship now stands. He summarised the Canada India opportunity so perfectly when he compared it to an Indian thali (meal) “like the many dishes coming together and making it a wonderful unifying experience.”

A Day of Substance on Parliament Hill

Our delegation held detailed meetings with about twelve Members of Parliament spanning government and opposition benches. The Canada-India relationship has friends on every bench. What it has lacked is the institutional home to channel that friendship into lasting policy.

CIF put five concrete, non-partisan asks on the table: reconstituting the Canada-India Parliamentary Friendship Group; championing the CEPA initiative; establishing a dedicated agri-food working group on CEPA implementation; engaging CIF and other organisations working in this space as a resource available to all Members of Parliament; and restoring Diwali on the Hill in November 2026. And we want ONE Diwali celebration, not the many as it happens now. It should be nonpartisan, and inclusive of all cultures. One big joyful celebration on the Hill that would be a showcase of joy, harmony and diversity.

We left Ottawa with one clear conviction: the desire for a strong, resilient, and non-partisan Canada-India relationship runs far deeper than any party line. Spring has well and truly come to this relationship. And like all true springs, it was worth the wait.

India’s Largest Ever Trade Delegation Headed to Canada

Now, from that spring, we turn to what comes next. And what comes next is significant.

India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal have confirmed he would lead the largest trade delegation India has ever sent to any country – arriving in Canada in late May or early June. Read that again: the largest delegation India has ever sent. To any country. In its history.

This is not a courtesy visit. This is India’s private sector arriving at Canada’s door with capital, intent, and urgency. Indian businesses are among the most active investors in the world right now. Unfortunately, Canada has been largely absent from that conversation. Minister Goyal’s delegation is a clear opportunity to change that.

The question before the Indo-Canadian business community is direct: when that delegation arrives, who will be in the room? Who will serve as the bridge – the people who understand both sides, speak both languages, know both cultures, and can turn introductions into partnerships? That role belongs to us. Not to government officials alone. Not to trade associations that discovered India last year. To us – a community of over 2.0 million people who have been living this bilateral relationship every day of our lives.

CIF will be working actively with business partners and community organizations to ensure that Minister Goyal’s visit is more than a series of formal meetings. It must be a genuine exchange of commercial intent – one that produces real matches between Indian capital and Canadian opportunity, and between Canadian exporters and Indian market access.

The $1 Trillion Question – Where is India’s Seat?

Prime Minister Carney has announced the first-ever Canada Investment Summit, to be held in Toronto on September 14 and 15, 2026. The goal is ambitious and the stakes are real: catalyse $1 trillion in total investment into Canada over five years, with a focus on nation building projects in clean energy, critical minerals, infrastructure, and advanced technology. One hundred of the world’s largest investors have been invited – private firms like BlackRock, sovereign wealth funds including Singapore’s GIC, and the world’s leading institutional capital pools.

RBC has projected that Canada could attract upwards of $1.8 trillion over the next decade if it moves decisively on pipelines, LNG terminals, nuclear and renewable power, and critical minerals development. Every single one of those sectors maps directly onto what India needs: energy security, manufacturing inputs, infrastructure capital, and clean technology expertise.

Here CIF would like to make its strongest pitch: Indian capital must have a seat at that summit.

India’s sovereign wealth fund, its major conglomerates like Tata, Reliance, Mahindra, Adani and robust domestic institutional investment base are among the most consequential pools of long-term capital in the world today. They are actively seeking stable, rule-of-law jurisdictions in which to deploy that capital. Canada with its AAA credit rating, the lowest net debt-to-GDP in the G7, and a resource endowment that matches India’s growth priorities almost perfectly should be at the top of that list.

A Canada Investment Summit that convenes the world’s great pools of capital but leaves Indian investment on the sidelines would be a strategic miss of the first order. Prime Minister Carney’s own framing -“Canada has what the world needs”- is an argument that points directly to India. The September summit is the moment to make that match visible to the world.

CIF will be advocating to Invest in Canada, to the Prime Minister’s Office, and to the relevant ministers that Indian participation be made major feature, if not the centrepiece, of the summit. We invite every member of our community who has connections to Indian business and investment circles to join us in that effort.

The Arc of This Year

Step back for a moment and look at what this year is shaping up to be.

In February and March, Prime Minister Carney visited India. CEPA negotiations were formally launched. Eight landmark agreements were signed. The bilateral relationship was reset at the highest level after years of rupture.

In April, CIF carried that momentum to Parliament Hill on Vaisakhi-planting non-partisan seeds in every corner of the House of Commons.

In May and June, India’s largest ever trade delegation arrives on Canadian soil. Business matches will be made. CEPA chapters will be discussed. Investment conversations will begin.

In September, the Canada Investment Summit convenes the world’s capital in Toronto with Indian participation, if CIF has anything to say about it.

By end-2026, both governments have committed to concluding CEPA.

This is not a diplomatic calendar. This is a harvest schedule. And the crop that gets planted and tended over the next eight months will feed the Canada-India relationship, its trade flows, its investment ties, its people-to-people connections for a generation.

The farmers of Saskatchewan know that a good harvest does not happen by accident. It requires the right conditions, the right preparation, and the willingness to do the hard work when the season arrives. The conditions are right. The preparation has been done. The season is here.

What CIF is Doing – And What You Can Do

At CIF, we are moving on several fronts simultaneously. We are engaging government on Indian participation in the September Investment Summit. We are working with community partners to ensure the Goyal delegation has substantive engagement with Canadian business beyond the official programme. We are tracking CEPA progress chapter by chapter, with particular attention to the agri-food and critical minerals provisions that matter most to Canadian workers and exporters. And we are building the case, meeting by meeting and conversation by conversation, for the Parliamentary Friendship Group that will give this relationship its permanent institutional home in the House of Commons.

What you can do is equally important:

• Business leaders: Reach out to CIF. Tell us your sector, your India connections, and your ambitions. When Minister Goyal’s delegation arrives, we want the right doors open.
• Farmers and agri-food exporters: The CEPA agri-food chapter is the one that will most directly affect your bottom line. A 30% tariff reduction on Canadian pulses entering India could be transformational for Prairie agriculture. Make sure your voice is part of the consultation process.
• Investors and entrepreneurs: The September summit is Canada’s moment to show the world it can build and deliver. If you have connections to Indian institutional or private capital, now is the time to activate them.
• Community members: Write to your MP. Ask where they stand on the Parliamentary Friendship Group. Ask whether they will support Diwali on the Hill. Ask how they plan to engage with the Goyal delegation. These are simple, reasonable questions and the answers will tell you a great deal.

We just marked Vaisakhi, a festival that has both sacred and practical dimensions as it ushers in harvest season and the beginning of Spring. This is the season we worked for in the Canada India space. CIF is ready to make sure that business gets done for Canada, for India, for our community, and for the generations to come who will continue to benefit from this bountiful harvest.

Jai Canada. Jai Hind.

Thank You!