Madam Speaker, it is indeed my pleasure to speak on Bill C-4 which implements an agreement that Canada signed last year with the United States, Japan, Russia and 11 countries of the European Union.
The agreement formulates Canada's participation in the international space station. The space station is a bold and exciting project which has nations around the world working together in a spirit of co-operation rather than rivalry.
It is the largest science and technology project in the history of humanity and Canadians should be proud of the role we are playing and that we will continue to play a key role in its development.
In its final form, the space station will cover an area as large as a football field. My colleague was just asking whether it was an American or Canadian football field size. I do not know the answer to that question, but I know that it will weigh over 450 tonnes and orbit the Earth at an average altitude of 400 kilometres. It will be clearly visible in the night sky as it orbits the Earth. I am not sure whether Canadians will be able to see the new generation space arm and hand that is going to be there, but they will certainly see it assemble the space station as it is being constructed.
The habitation models and laboratories will accommodate a permanent international crew of seven astronauts dedicated to advancements in areas of biotechnology, engineering, Earth observation and telecommunications.
I am pleased to say today that the Reform Party will be supporting the speedy passage of the bill. I recognize there is some urgency in getting the bill passed quickly to meet the commitments that we have already made to our partners on the project.
The leader of the Reform Party is a keen follower of space technology. He expresses keen interest in the project and I know he wants it to go ahead. Many of my colleagues have the same kind of keen interest in this area. I have had the opportunity of touring the Houston Space Science Centre two years ago. I really enjoyed that experience and marvelled at the technology that we have achieved in the world in just some 30 years.
I will go back to a comment made by the parliamentary secretary when he talked about national railways. A distant relative of mine, George Stephenson in England in the early 1800s, was the man who invented the first steam locomotive and the railway that opened up the world. The innovation that happened as a result of the railway is what we are seeing today in a new forum, the new forum being space technology and a very exciting one at that.
Before I get into a bit of the background, I just want to say that if the bill were to come to all stages today we would be very much in favour of it passing quickly. Reform will be supporting the bill.
I will provide listeners with a bit of background as to when and how the space station got its start. Back in January of 1984, the President of the United States directed NASA to develop and place in orbit a permanently manned space station. At the time, President Ronald Reagan invited friends and allies to participate in its development and share the benefits.
At the Quebec Summit in March 1985, Canada accepted this invitation and confirmed Canada's interest in co-operating at the summit meeting in Washington the following year. At the same time, various other countries expressed interest in the project and over the years signed memorandums of understanding.
It was recognized that Russia could greatly enhance the capabilities of the space station because it had a long list of accomplishments in the area of human space flight and long duration missions. On December 6, 1993, Russia was invited to take part in the project. Arrangements were then made for co-operation on human space flight activities, including the Russian-U.S. Mir shuttle program, to prepare for the the building of the space station.
On January 29, 1998, these countries got together and signed the Civil International Space Station Agreement which established a framework for the design, development, operation and utilization of the space station.
Today we have Bill C-4 at second reading which seeks to implement the agreement that we signed last year to make this possible.
I will speak for a moment about the agreement itself and the bill that implements it. The international agreement was signed by Canada, the United States, Japan, Russia and 11 European countries. It contains 28 articles and an annex which summarizes the tasks of the various countries that they have committed themselves to. In Canada's case, the Canadian Space Agency will provide three elements: a mobile servicing centre, a special purposes dexterous manipulator, the hand, the new generation Canadarm and space station-unique ground elements.
The articles lay out the objectives and scope of the agreement, international rights and obligations, ownership of the elements of the equipment and the management of the space station itself. As well, aspects of the design and development are covered: the right to provide qualified crew, transportation, the right of access to the space station and the provision of a communications network.
Each partner will bear the cost of fulfilling its respective responsibilities under the agreement, including sharing, on an equitable basis, the common systems operation costs, the activities attributed to the operation of the space station as a whole.
An important article in my view is article 19 which deals with the exchange of data and goods. Each partner to the agreement agrees to transfer all technical data and goods considered necessary for the fulfilment of the partners' responsibilities.
Bill C-4 contains provisions in clause 7 that give the government the power to force companies, individuals and third parties who are not in direct contractual relationship to the crown to release information related to the space agency. This power is necessary in the event that a company working under contract to the government on the project gets bought out by another company and is unwilling to honour the company's contractual obligations. This would severely affect its ability to operate. Therefore there is a need for clause 7.
Clause 8 provides safeguards to ensure the documents that are so produced are not unduly communicated to other parties. While the exchange of information and scientific data is crucial to the success and successful development of the entire project, the protection of intellectual property rights is also important. To ensure that intellectual property rights are protected, the agreement contains article 21 which states:
For the purposes of intellectual property law, an activity occurring in or on a space station flight element shall be deemed to have occurred only in the territory of the partner state of that element's registry.
This gives some protection to those countries that are conducting research and development there with new products. They will have some legal parameters around the product they produce in space. It will belong to them.
Normal patent procedures will apply. That means that a person or entity first filing a patent is the owner of that intellectual property. That is a very important point. With so many partners working on this space station, it is important that there is protection for those partners in regard to their research and development.
The bill also contains amendments to the criminal code. These amendments ensure that any criminal act which is committed in space by a Canadian crew member falls under Canadian law. That Canadian would not be tried under the law of the United States or Russia for example.
That brings me to Canada's involvement in this station. Recently Julie Payette became the first Canadian to board the space station but that will not be the end by any means. In 2000 Marc Garneau will participate in his third space mission as a crew member of a shuttle mission. He will be followed by Chris Hadfield who will install Canada's space station robotic manipulator system, the next generation Canadarm and the main element of the mobile servicing system called MSS for short. This goes to the building of the space station itself and enables the space station and its partners to construct the space station once the new robotics is in place with the new Canadarm and hand. That will provide the necessary infrastructure to do the work to put the space station together. Once installed, the MSS will move around the space station doing assembly and repair work.
Canada is also contributing to a vision system for the operators of the remote manipulator who must operate the robotic arm from inside the windowless space station, no small task I would suggest. On the ground, the MSS operations complex at the Canadian Space Agency in Saint Hubert, Quebec will plan missions, monitor the condition of the remote manipulator and train space station crew in its use.
The cost of designing, developing, operating and launching the MSS into orbit is approximately $1.4 billion over 20 years. That covers the period of 1984 to 2004. It costs approximately $3 per Canadian taxpayer per year. Canada's contribution is relatively small at just 2.5% but it is important nonetheless.
The 1999 federal budget provided the Canadian Space Agency with $430 million in new funds over three years which stabilized the agency's budget at $300 million per year starting in the year 2002-03.
That brings me to the present and future benefits the Canadian Space Station and our involvement might bring Canadians. The scientific benefit for Canadians from the space station will be our ability to monitor Earth, to study our environment including agricultural crop monitoring, that is, if there are any Canadian farmers and farm crops left to monitor in the future. However, it is an important aspect and I think it will deliver important benefits. It will have the ability to monitor the Canadian Arctic ice pack so that there will be aid to Canadian ships navigating in Arctic waters.
Close to 90% of Canada's investment is going out in contracts to Canadian firms. The rest is going to universities. Since 1987 over 150 contracts have been let for automation and robotics technology development.
During the space station's estimated 10 year lifespan, Canada will be able to expand its research in microgravity with applications to human disorders such as osteoporosis and cancer. Canada will also continue its research into protein crystallization in space which will be a big aid to medical research in Canada.
The technologies that already resulted from our space involvement include the first robotic refuelling station. This was developed by a firm in British Columbia in partnership with Shell. As well, a Quebec firm has applied space expertise to develop a digital imaging system for X-rays which eliminates the need for photographic films. In addition, a company in Newfoundland has developed a sensitive skin which was originally developed for space robotic manipulators and is now being applied to artificial limbs.
Many Canadian firms have successfully entered international markets by landing contracts based on the expertise they gained on the various aspects of the space project. Other firms are helping partners in other countries with their own contribution to the space project. For example, EMS Technologies of Ottawa recently won a $9.5 million contract from Mitsubishi to supply electronics to Japan's contribution to the space station. There is an ongoing benefit.
It is clear that Canada's involvement in space is producing tremendous returns. On our own we would not be able to develop or fund a project of this magnitude, but in co-operation with our peace-loving partners the potential for a meaningful contribution and rewarding spinoffs is great. I suggest it will be no less important than technologies in the industrial revolution such as the innovations which led to the discovery of the steam locomotive and the railway itself.
Perhaps most important of all is that Canada's young people will follow Canada's achievements in space, thereby sparking their interest in the fields of science and technology. We do not need to be reminded that our future prosperity lies in our ability to encourage pursuit of knowledge for those that follow behind us.
On that note, I will end my speech. I want to inform the House that the Reform Party is supporting this bill in all stages. We do not want to delay its speedy passage in any way.