Mr. Chair, I'm pleased to be here. I want to thank the committee for inviting me.
Space technologies and solutions are an essential part of Canada's defence strategy, contributing directly or indirectly to virtually all defence operations.
Space Canada represents over 90 Canadian space innovators who collectively play a vital role in preserving the environment, fighting climate change, bridging the digital divide, helping humanity explore far beyond our planet and, of course, protecting Canada's security and sovereignty.
Last week the Public Policy Forum released a report entitled “Matter More: A Canadian strategy for a changing United States”. PPF makes several recommendations that reference space or space capabilities, as well as industrial capabilities and the need for government-industry partnerships, including the following, entitled “Deepen and Integrate all Aspects of Canada's Commitment to Space”:
Space-based surveillance is a key element of future Arctic defence. Canada, with its huge geography and need for communications, has a long history of investment in space research and participation in space exploration. But those activities have too often been split into separate civilian and military compartments.
It goes on:
Canada should commit more resources to military space surveillance systems, making procurement decisions in conjunction with the United States to ensure inter-operability. Decisions on future space investments also should be made on an integrated basis that brings together government and industry. Canada has leading-edge private sector companies that can be partners on space-related investments and activities.
Indeed, for a nation to compete in the race for the new space economy, an economy that is emerging and projected to be $1 trillion if not $2 trillion globally on an annual basis by 2040, governments play a pivotal role, and their support is necessary. They help foster the space sectors as regulators, operational partners, capital providers, investors, funders, anchor customers, early customers or even owners. It is with this principle in mind that Space Canada submits that the federal government should accelerate the delivery of identified space defence programs, engage directly with Canada's space innovators, expand defence research and development programs, establish a national space council to coordinate space priorities across the Government of Canada and develop a dedicated commercial space strategy for Canada.
To elaborate on the latter point, I will quote a brief Space Canada wrote and submitted to the federal government earlier this year. Canada's closest allies have all integrated commercial capabilities into their national strategic vision. Australia has integrated commercial components into both their civil and defence strategies. The U.K. has an overarching national strategy that includes civil, commercial and defence components. The U.S. has a national space policy that connects civil, commercial and defence components as well. For its national defence, the U.S. Department of Defense released a defence commercial integration strategy, and the United States Space Force recently released a commercial space strategy for integrating more commercial capabilities into the Space Force enterprise. Canada should clearly articulate a commercial space strategy to take maximum advantage of the capabilities at home. This would enable Canada to keep pace with allies and partners and to get the most out of the Canadian space industrial base. At the heart of this commercial space strategy should be the principle of building only what you cannot buy, as established by the U.S. DOD and the U.K.
Moreover, NATO is also working on a space commercialization strategy, announced this summer and to come out over the next few weeks or months. Even further, just to give you a sense of some of our allies' work in commercialization, NASA and the U.S. Space Force are playing major roles in supporting the commercial space sector in their country. To give you an example that I think puts all of this in context, consider this passage from a Harvard Business Review article, which says, “Roughly 90% of the first $1 billion invested in SpaceX came from NASA's contracting arrangements, bringing some predictability to an inherently risky venture.”
I look forward to discussing this pivotal topic and the role of space in securing Canada's defence and security with you today.
I'll finish my opening remarks with this quote. The importance of the role of space and defence was summed up by The New York Times just a few weeks ago, as follows:
Almost as soon as the next U.S. president is sworn in, questions about countering China's military buildup — in space and cyberspace, on the seas and in the nuclear missile silos that have suddenly appeared in the Chinese desert—will sweep through those Situation Room meetings.
This topic is incredibly important. Thank you again for giving me the opportunity to discuss it.