National Defence Committee on June 1st, 2026

[The Chair, Liberal, Charles Sousa]

We have time for Sherry Romanado.

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through you, I would like to thank the witnesses for being here.

Because there seems to be some confusion, I wanted to map out some things. In 2017, we brought forward “Strong, Secure, Engaged”, which was our first-ever white paper defence policy. That was then updated in “Our North, Strong and Free”, or ONSAF, which is our bible in terms of what we're working on. We have the defence capabilities list. We have the NORAD modernization. We have the Arctic and northern policy, and then we have the defence industrial strategy, which maps out and provides clear indicators to industry of the 10 sovereign capabilities that Canada is looking at, including in the budget. We've talked about the space launch legislation as well.

I understand that my colleagues across the way seem to have difficulty finding documentation, so perhaps we need to put that in one document that strings those lines together to show Canadians that they are linked.

I have children serving in the Canadian Armed Forces. Rest assured that the Canadian Armed Forces do provide DND with what their capability needs are. DND then provides that to the DIA, in terms of going out and getting what we need and engaging with industries such as your own. I think that's something we're really doing differently, which we didn't do in the past. We didn't come to industry and say, “What can you help us with?” We didn't go to academia and say, “What research are you doing?” or “What kind of problems can you help us solve? If we threw you, a start-up and a researcher in a room with a CAF member, could you solve this problem for us?”

I think that's what's interesting about the defence industrial strategy. We've created that ecosystem where we're bringing all of these partners who have the solutions to the table, through the defence innovation support hubs, to allow us to tap into that capability.

We have some incredible talent across this panel. I wish I had another hour with you because I could spend an hour.

Mr. Greenley, when we were at CANSEC, you were showing us the latest satellite with payload capabilities. We talked a little bit, and I asked what was preventing you from getting this payload up. You said that you don't have the rockets. We don't have the launch capability here in Canada.

I'm looking at the three colleagues who are sitting beside you. I'm super excited to have Reaction Dynamics from Longueuil here with us today.

What could we be doing in terms of supporting this incredible capability gap we have?

You mentioned it, Mr. Greenley. You mentioned that if we were to lose satellite capability right now, we would have to wait on somebody else to launch a satellite to replace it. What does that mean in terms of our sovereignty and why it's so important we're investing in rocket technology and also in launch capabilities?

[Mike Greenley]

I think there's an industrial capability that is greater. We just completed an expansion of our manufacturing facilities in Montreal, as a satellite builder. As we go through this year, now we'll be able to produce two satellites a day. That's 400 satellites a year. Next year, we're under contract to do about 250. All of those will be launched outside of Canada because there's nowhere to go. There's an industrial or an economic opportunity, in addition to a sovereignty sustainment opportunity, by ensuring we have launch.

We mentioned this $200-million seed contract that's been given to the spaceport, in addition to a couple of hundred million to the rocket players in the room, to be able to advance technology. That keeps things going and puts a small light on all this stuff, but there are a lot of other gears we could engage here to be able to lean into that further to ensure that we are creating capacity even quicker and getting it out of the country. It's definitely an area that would benefit from any focus we would like to bring to it as we go forward into the future.

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

Often we're talking about defence. I brought this up as well. In my previous role, I was the parliamentary secretary for emergency preparedness. One of the gaps we had was the capabilities in terms of wildfires and detecting atmospheric issues, whether it be wildfires, hurricanes, flooding or so on and so forth. We do not have the capability we need to be able to continue to launch independently of our allies and to also augment our eyes in terms of the Arctic.

I'm going to give a chance to Reaction Dynamics, of course, because I visited you and I've seen the incredible work you're doing. I'll ask all three rocket scientists if they could provide us with what we can be doing to assist them in making sure that we continue to support them, perhaps through the IDEaS program, to make sure they can develop that capability here in Canada, so that they can not only provide it to Canada but also export it.

[Bachar Elzein]

Thank you for the question.

I would mirror what Mr. Greenley highlighted. What I think will be very important is not only the support but also the consistency of support. That gives us a lot of certainty. I think, in a certain way, all three of us have experienced a rise in interest from investors. That means we can hire. We have been hiring one or two people per week. We've added 20 people to the team since September—not September 2024 but September of last year—which is pretty remarkable. It's about consistency and the belief that even if the first launch doesn't succeed, it's not the end. SpaceX needed three failed launches before they had a fourth successful orbital flight. That is really going to be key.

I would push it further. When we are able, as a country, to launch our own satellites, it means we can also support the alliance. That means we can also launch satellites for Latvia, Poland and the countries that are currently in a life-or-death situation. They need to launch assets into space, but they can't necessarily develop their own programs or invest. This is something that we are fortunate enough to have in Canada. We have the ecosystem, the companies and the knowledge to do so. Now it's really about that signal.

We've been around for nine years. The question we've always been asked when talking to investors to get capital and secure funding is, “Why do we need a rocket company in Canada when we have SpaceX?”—or pick your favourite. I haven't heard that question for a year. This is really good and refreshing because it means we can focus on building, not surviving.

A strong signal—while ensuring that the signal remains consistent—is important. The launch industry in Canada is a bit like a seed that has been planted. We need to water it and take care of it to ensure that it grows. It's fragile, but one day it will become a very strong tree that will throw shade on other stuff. That's what is really important.

[The Chair, Liberal, Charles Sousa]

We have some housekeeping to do, and we have a vote.

Before we conclude, I want to express, on behalf of the committee, our appreciation of your time, expertise and leadership in enabling Canada to build and prosper, especially to support our sovereignty in space and enable us to protect ourselves as necessary. Part of that is speed, which is critical to responding to the urgency of matters before us—Ukraine has been a great example of how to do that—all while being transparent and ensuring that we protect taxpayer money. We are investing and moving forward because of folks like you. Thank you for being here, for your diligence and for your very robust responses in the discussion.

Before we conclude, however, I'm going to ask the clerk to put something up on the screen for us to talk about. There are a couple of things. One is an agreement for our budget. I think we circulated it.

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

Can we take a five-minute break so—

[The Chair, Liberal, Charles Sousa]

I'm sensitive about time.

I need concurrence to adopt the defence industrial strategy budget of $30,400.

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Charles Sousa]

Also, tomorrow we have a delegation coming from Luxembourg. They'll be here at 10 a.m. in room 125-B, West Block. I'm hoping we can count on members of the committee to attend. I think they're also going to be accompanied by some senators from the other committee.

With that, we have to go upstairs to vote. Do I have concurrence to conclude our meeting and adjourn?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Charles Sousa]

Folks, the meeting is adjourned.