Mr. Michael Byers at the Industry, Science and Technology Committee

On March 5th, 2008. See this statement in context.

March 5th, 2008 / 4:55 p.m.

Professor, Canada Research Chair (Tier One) in Global Politics and International Law, University of British Columbia

I agree with Mr. Staples, in that I have no worry whatsoever about MDA continuing to make handsome profits even if the sale of RADARSAT-2 is blocked.

RADARSAT-1 made $26 million in 2004 alone for the federal government, much of that from these kinds of green activities: ice-mapping, agricultural, and forestry. There's a huge demand for high-quality imagery.

What MDA is doing is chasing the easiest market, which is the military market, and primarily the U.S. governmental military market. But forced to compete for other kinds of contracts, there's no question in my mind that this technology can compete with the very best technology in the world, and MDA will make lots and lots of money even if the satellite stays in Canada.

See context to find out what was said next.