Thank you, Madam Chair.
Honourable committee members, my name is Stewart Bain. I am the chief executive officer and co-founder of Montreal-based NorthStar Earth and Space.
I will be speaking to you today about a topic that may at first seem remote from the daily lives of Canadians, but is critical to our telecommunications, financial transactions, weather forecasting, automotive positioning, national security and our ability to combat climate change: protecting our space environment.
At a time of unprecedented climate emergency on earth, our planet's orbit is also in a precarious state, and traffic must be managed quickly and sustainably to avoid collisions that threaten the satellites providing the critical services I just mentioned.
Space is essential to our planet and our economy.
This global challenge must be met, and it presents a unique opportunity for Canada and its space industry. Our innovative company is growing rapidly and is well positioned to compete in this new space economy. Our 40 employees, soon to be a few hundred, are developing a state-of-the-art infrastructure that will produce information services supporting the sustainable development of our terrestrial and space environment.
In a context where an unprecedented number of satellites are coming to occupy orbital space, NorthStar offers for the first time, from its headquarters in Montreal, the most complete and accurate space object commercial tracking service. This positions Canada to become the backbone of the global space traffic management system as space traffic grows exponentially.
To put this in perspective, at the beginning of this decade there were just over 2,300 operational satellites orbiting the earth. By the end of this decade there will be over 100,000 operational satellites flying amongst millions of fragments of debris.
NASA recently reported in January of this year that the most critical feature needed to preserve the near-space environment is accurate tracking of space objects. With the support of the governments of Quebec and Canada, NorthStar has already demonstrated world-leading technology here in Montreal to address this concern. We must seize this economic opportunity to put Canadian innovation to work to protect our satellites, our astronauts, and to keep space safe and sustainable for everyone.
We encourage the committee to view this situation as an opportunity to safeguard the space environment and ensure the competitiveness of our economy by creating Canadian jobs with a promising future.
NorthStar submits the following recommendation to the committee: make sustainable space development a priority, including building on the best space traffic management services developed here in Canada. This will support all satellite operators in Canada and make Canada a world leader in sustainable space governance, a challenge being addressed by many countries as well as the United Nations.
In this spirit, our recommendation also echoes the report of the Industry Strategy Council of Canada, led by Ms. Monique Leroux, which recommends that Canada set a goal of being the world leader in environmental, social and governance fields, or ESG. The Industry Strategy Council of Canada states that: “When the government is the first buyer of innovative technologies [...], it enables our firms to scale more quickly, create more jobs and adopt an export orientation.” By adopting this strategic vision, we can put homegrown innovation to work for our environmental imperatives and greener, more competitive, and more sustainable economic growth.
As the father of six children, I'm reminded every day of the responsibility we all share to provide hope and ensure a sustainable environment for all future generations to come.
At the dawn of a green and sustainable economic recovery, Canada has an opportunity to make an impact on saving space and preserving our global environment. Given the tools at our disposal, it is our duty to act and seize a unique opportunity for our country to generate greener growth that will create the jobs of tomorrow.
Thank you for your attention.
Thank you.