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 to

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 Forei

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 n

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

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 p

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 nationa

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 ensu

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 t

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 t

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 Syste

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 Un

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,

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 pe

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 jum