Foreign policy of canada vis-à-vis India under Stephen Harper: From cold storage towarmth of billion-dollar trade

Abstract

From a cold era of nuclear disagreement to warmth of bilateral relations, Indo-Canadian relations have seen upward growth since 2006. This is the period when Conservative Party came to power under the leadership of Stephen Harper in Canada after a long Liberal rule. Since coming to power, Harper sought to change Canadian foreign policy so much so that scholars have branded it as big shift, transformative and un-Canadian. The big shift has been from liberal internationalism to neo-conservatism and from public diplomacy to economic diplomacy including militarization of Canadian foreign policy. The ballot box politics is said to be redefining the international orientation of Canada under Harper. Set in this context, this paper explores the factors responsible for change in orientation of Canada vis-à-vis India under Harper. This paper focus mainly on two core arguments: economic diplomacy and ballot box politics of Harper are the contributing factors for this change. This paper argues that the change witnesses Canada’s effort to diversify its economy on the one hand and to woo ethnic votes on the other hand. The present work further seeks to explore the potential areas of cooperation between the two countries and chart out a roadmap of such cooperation, as there has been change in Federal government in 2015.