Mr. Speaker, MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Limited of Richmond, British Columbia, was selected through the competitive process by the Canadian Space Agency and the government to construct and manage RADARSAT II, Canada's next generation synthetic aperture radar satellite.
The government will invest $225 million and MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Limited will invest $80 million for the construction of this high tech satellite system.
It will be implemented at half the cost of RADARSAT I through the use of new technologies and engineering that will create a lighter, more capable and more cost effective satellite. It will create approximately 300 jobs across Canada. This will help bring prosperity to all regions across Canada, especially to the province of British Columbia.
Scheduled for launch in 2001, RADARSAT II will contribute valuable new information to areas such as ice navigation, geological exploration and disaster relief operations.
This is good news for British Columbia and all Canadians. RADARSAT II and the Canada Space Agency through the government's support will ensure that British Columbia and Canada will remain a world class developer of satellite technology for earth observation into the next millennium.