Finance committee  Good morning. My name is Steven Staples. I am president of the Rideau Institute, an independent research advocacy and consulting group with demonstrated expertise in defence policy. I noted that other organizations have been presenting on the issue of defence spending to this topic, and I just want to make it clear that we do not receive funding from the Department of National Defence, which may differentiate us from others.

Foreign Affairs committee  I think Canada can do a lot of things on this. As a traditional middle power, we've been able to work with other countries that seem a little bit like us in dealing with countries in a broad engagement. I think we have a number of very talented people in the Department of Foreign Affairs who have been working on this, in terms of verification and looking at ways of preventing these kinds of threats.

Foreign Affairs committee  I think it's a welcome opportunity to discuss this. Thank you for your question. I think these are issues of mutual interest with the U.S., and I think these are emerging as two important priorities for the Obama administration, both in terms of space security and in terms of nuclear disarmament.

Foreign Affairs committee  Sure, I'm happy to. Thank you for the question. I think you had former Prime Minister Joe Clark appear before the committee as well. We had him at our annual dinner, and he gave an absolutely gripping presentation outlining the spending reductions that have been incurred by the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes. Just very briefly then, I think it's clear that the U.S. is going to be moving down this road. At the same time, there's going to be a buildup of troops there. They are going to open up a diplomatic front. That is the tone that's being put forward. Canada should actively participate in the review of strategy that's going on right now in the United States, and I think we need to show quite clearly that this is not going to be a military solution, and help find ways—give them the benefit of our experience and our diplomatic know-how—that we can move to that reconciliation, as some people have called it, or negotiation, however you want to describe it there.

Foreign Affairs committee  Members of the committee, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for inviting me here today on the topic of Canada-U.S. relations. I'd like to focus today on two areas that are emerging as priorities for the Obama administration that offer Canada the opportunity to pursue our national interests through a more secure world.

Foreign Affairs committee  I wouldn't wait until we had a complete space policy before we get those investments going. I think there are a number of projects already on the books that are waiting for the release of funds that I would include in that. But certainly they could happen at the same time to ensure that we're getting maximum benefit.

Foreign Affairs committee  Briefly, on the question of intellectual property, Mr. Friedman, the CEO of MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates, appeared in this room at one of the other committees. He gave us an interesting reminder. There are three aspects to this that you need to look at. First, there are the existing contracts between the government and MDA in terms of getting the imagery they paid for.

Foreign Affairs committee  I would only add briefly to this, and I take your point, Mr. Chan, that we have to look at the broader implications of these things, and not just industry ones. I'm reminded of a U.S. ambassador who always reminded Canada that in the view of the United States, security trumps trade sometimes, the point being that national security interests sometimes have to come ahead of industry.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, you are.

Foreign Affairs committee  Mr. Chair and members of the committee, thank you very much for inviting me today. I'd like to introduce Mr. Steven Shrybman, our legal counsel, who is prepared to provide you with information and take your questions regarding our legal opinion on the Remote Sensing Space Systems Act and the conflict with U.S. law should Radarsat-2 be purchased by a corporation subject to U.S. law.

Industry committee  Very briefly, just to correct the record, the actual agency that's designed to promote Canadian industry to U.S. governments and other government buyers is the Canadian Commercial Corporation. They are the ones that administer the defence production sharing agreements with the United States and they handle all Canadian industry sales to NASA.

Industry committee  In my experience, we have been trying to advance the idea of a space policy for Canada. The Rideau Institute has been engaged with a variety of stakeholders within government, in the public sector, and in the private sector. To address Ms. Nash's comments and the previous ones, it seems to me that investment in the space industry, even as small as it has been, has yielded tremendous results.

Industry committee  It's difficult to say. Clearly we'd have to ask the government about that, but in some cases you've seen arguments that foreign investment in a particular Canadian industry could be beneficial in terms of building more jobs and more investment within Canada. You could see it perhaps in the auto sector or other industries, but in this one in particular, because it's of this particular nature.

Industry committee  I have only a little to add to Mr. Byers' testimony. We have to remind ourselves that around $400 million of the investment was advance purchase of some of that imagery. So we prepaid, like your cellphone, some of the use of this satellite. It envisions a certain ability to jump the queue over other commercial users.