This week The Rideau Institute, a Canadian think tank, along with the Canadian Auto Workers union, issued a white paper outlining a plan to revise Canadian space policy, an issue that has been on the minds of many in Canada’s space community in recent months, in light of the Canadian government’s decision to block the sale of the space unit of MDA to ATK, a US company. While that deal is now dead, the debate about the sale set off a debate about Canada’s future in space.
Both Rideau and the CAW (which represents a number of MDA employees) opposed the sale, and see the aftermath as an opportunity to reexamine what the Canadian Space Agency and the rest of the government should be doing on space issues. “While cancelling the sale is laudable because it preserves a mainstay of the Canadian space industry, more must be done to keep a vibrant space industry in Canada,” the report argues. “Positive changes must be made so that companies involved in the space sector can rely on a clearly outlined long-term government commitment.”
The report makes a a number of recommendations, including bringing in a permanent president of the CSA: the agency has had three presidents since former astronaut Marc Garneau resigned in 2005 to pursue a political career, and the current president, Guy Bujold, is set to leave in October. The report recommends a number of other national initiatives, including the formulation of a national space policy. The report also calls on Canada to lobby the US for more ITAR exemptions to make it easier for Canadian companies to do business in the US. As one might expect, the report asks for a major increase in CSA’s budget, to bring it line with other G8 countries, from about $300 million/year now to $870 million/year by 2012, or about $1.53 billion in overall new spending over a five-year period.
These arguments are not dissimilar to those made by Chris Gainor in this week’s issue of The Space Review, who states that the debate over the MDA-ATK deal exposed the “neglect” Canadian space programs have suffered under for years. “The aborted sale of MDA placed Canada’s space program on the political agenda for the first time since the CSA was formed in 1989, and has provided a warning of the consequences of continued neglect of the space sector by the Canadian government,” he wrote. “Canada’s space program has been a source of pride for Canadians and a success in terms of generating business for Canadian high technology firms. Now Canada has been put on notice that these successes will not continue without governmental action.”
So having blocked a sound commercial deal that at no cost to tax payers would have secured Canadian space jobs, now the government has to take more money from taxpayers to ensure those same jobs aren’t lost. On top of that there’s no hint of any vision – CSA has an opportunity here to announce a new program or fully join the Lunar program. Instead it’s sad, short sighted down to Earth socialist protectionism.
socialist
You right wing nut cases will never ‘get it’. With soon to be 10 billion people on the planet, your crackpot ideas are as obsolete as the dinosaurs.
You have elevated incompetence and failure to a political ideaology.
Hoping I don’t get flamed or banned here, but I agree with clclops; Canada is farther down the road to socialist hell than we are, and they have not learned the power of free open markets, but then again, the space community as a whole has not learned to sell space to the masses or elites in the spacefaring nations or elsewhere. Sadly, space community members. with few few exceptions, could not sell ice water to a thirsty arab or a warm jacket to an eskimo. And unless this lack of advertising/marketing/promotion/sales skills changes, along with a product or service the public is willing to buy at a price they are able and willing to pay, space programs as we know them, as public goods sold to the public at large, will die.
the space community as a whole has not learned to sell space to the masses or elites in the spacefaring nations or elsewhere.
If you want to sell something, you need to have something to sell. The vast majority of space activists are selling something that does not exist, or selling the intangible – space, empty and void, like flim flam artists.
Even worse, they are ADVERTISING something for sale that doesn’t exist.
The few space activists that do actually have something to sell, are busy developing their products, and are advertising them very little, if at all.
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Perry: Sadly, space community members. with few few exceptions, could not sell ice water to a thirsty arab or a warm jacket to an eskimo.
While you and I are on opposite sides of the political divide, I agree with most of your statement. Our supposedly capitalist companies — e.g., Boeing with one of the best rockets in the business — would much rather suckle at the government teet than take a risk to market their vehicle. Even the Europeans do better — and Ariane-V dominates the market.
— Donald
“Instead it’s sad, short sighted down to Earth socialist protectionism.”
“Canada is farther down the road to socialist hell than we are, and they have not learned the power of free open markets”
Canada’s decision had little to do with socialism, protectionism, or free markets, and instead revolved around national security concerns. MDA is the sole owner of RADARSAT International (RSI), which operates the two RADARSAT-1 and -2 satellites in partnership with the Canadian government. These are synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites with resolution down to 3 meters, which makes them pretty high-value assets for Canadian national security. RADARSAT-2 even has “terrestrial defence surveillance and target identification” as part of its mission definition. The Canadian government didn’t want those assets operated by a foreign-owned company. It’s as simple as that.
FWIW…