Canadian Minister of International Trade, Maninder Sidhu, on Tuesday, 13 January 2026, said that the country is set to launch negotiations for a potential free trade agreement (FTA) deal with India starting from next month, February 2026, reported the news agency Reuters.
Along with FTA talks with India, Canada is also planning to negotiate a comprehensive economic partnership agreement with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the upcoming month, according to the agency report.
The minister also said that Canada has many areas, such as battery storage and energy, in which the country can collaborate with China. More developments on this move will be explored in the official visit to Beijing later this week, as per the news report.
Maninder Sidhu also said that the country is looking to add more capacity at the country's existing ports, like Montreal, to give a boost to the non-United States exports from the Western nation.
Canada immigration issue
According to an earlier Hindustan Times report, Canada is expected to see a sharp rise in undocumented immigrants as millions of work permits expire, with nearly half of those affected coming from India.
Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the data from immigration shows that nearly 1,053,000 work permits expired by the end of 2025, with another 927,000 set to expire in 2026.
As the work visa expires, the people will lose legal status unless they secure another visa or transition to permanent residency, according to the report citing Immigration consultant Kanwar Seirah.
He also noted that recent Canadian government measures have made these options more restrictive, especially for temporary workers and international students.
The warning comes in a way that Canada has reportedly never faced such high numbers of people going out of status, as in the first quarter of 2026, nearly 315,000 visas are set to expire, emerging as a bottleneck for the country's immigration system.
The consultant also said that the growth of the undocumented population is already creating social issues in parts of the Greater Toronto Area, including Brampton and Caledon, where people are allegedly seen in tent encampments in wooded areas, housing people who are reportedly undocumented.
In the next two years, Seirah says proactive planning and awareness are critical, as the country is likely to witness unprecedented numbers of undocumented immigrants.
