A day after inviting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the upcoming G7 meeting in Alberta, Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada said India is the fifth-largest market in the world and therefore had to be included in the summit, which will see the participation of the world’s leading economies.
Prime Minister Carney highlighted India’s global stature in economic and commercial spheres and said India is among the leading mainstream global powers and added, “As chair of the G7, it is important to invite the most important countries to attend to talk about important issues such as energy, artificial intelligence, critical minerals, and India is really at the very centre of global supply chains,” Mr. Carney said during an interaction with reporters.
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Prime Minister Carney had invited PM Modi through a phone call that took place on Friday (June 6, 2025). PM Modi thanked his Canadian counterpart for the invitation to the G7 summit in Kananskis, Alberta and said, “As vibrant democracies bound by deep people-to-people ties, India and Canada will work together with renewed vigour, guided by mutual respect and shared interests.”
Mr. Carney’s comments came during an interaction with the media where questions were raised about the ongoing investigation into the killing of pro-Khalistan activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on 18 June 2023, which the previous Canadian government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau blamed on Indian state actors.
Mr. Nijjar, who was a prominent Khalistan proponent in Surrey, was shot and killed by unknown assailants on 18 June 2023 near the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurudwara where he served. He was a prominent advocate of the Sikhs for Justice Campaign. In May 2024, Canadian police arrested three persons – Kamalpreet Singh, Karanpreet Singh and Karan Brar – who were allegedly members of a hit squad that shot Mr. Nijjar. The investigation into the case also linked the murder with other killings that took place in Canada around the same time.
Prime Minister Carney refused to respond to a question that linked the death of Mr. Nijjar with the Indian leadership and said, “There is a legal process that is literally under way and quite advanced in Canada, and it’s never appropriate to make comments with respect to those legal processes.”
