Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Wednesday described his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, as a “unique guy” and joked about the PM’s “weekend” routine.
Carney was speaking about his interaction with PM Modi during his visit to India at a seminar hosted by the Lowy Institute in Sydney, Australia.
When asked about his assessment of PM Modi, Carney stated, “The guy is unique. He has not taken a day off in 25 years, either as the Chief Minister of Gujarat or as the Prime Minister.”
While mentioning PM Modi’s relentless dedication as a political leader, Carney joked with his Canadian minister, François-Philippe Champagne.
“He hasn’t taken even one day off. Every weekend, like you, François-Philippe, he is out campaigning. He gets 250,000 people at his rallies, you get 25, but that’s okay,” Carney said jokingly, drawing laughter from the crowd at the seminar.
The Canadian PM further praised Modi’s work ethic, stating he remains “very focused” on providing for the rural population. He highlighted UPI as a key transformation point in the country’s payment system, calling it an important achievement of PM Modi’s administration.
“He gave me a hack that anyone would follow up, which is he’s a person who is very focused on delivery… I’ll call it to the rural household.. So a huge motivation for the financial reform transformations, the payment systems transformation, UPI and other things was to get money directly as you know directly to individuals without leakage, shall we say, in the system in real-time. And to bring people… you know, hundreds of millions of people into the formal economy. And he’s very focused on that aspect of delivery,” Carney said at the seminar.
Earlier this month, Carney was on a four-day visit to India as part of Ottawa’s efforts to rebuild ties that hit a low point in 2023 after former Canadian PM Justin Trudeau alleged that the Indian government agents were linked to the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
After a bilateral meeting, PM Modi and Mark Carney firmed up agreements on critical minerals and the supply of uranium ore, finalising terms of reference for negotiations on a free trade deal.
Besides a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on critical minerals, India’s Department of Atomic Energy and Canada’s Cameco, one of the world’s largest publicly traded uranium companies, signed a $2.6-billion agreement for the supply of 22 million pounds of uranium ore during 2027-2035, HT reported earlier.
Carney is the first Canadian prime minister to visit India in eight years. He backed stronger trade and defence ties during his visit and said, “Like India, we know that the certainties that have structured trade, security, finance and diplomacy for more than a generation have been overturned.”