Industry committee  This is an interesting question. We're going back many years into the past. I was not really part of the project team when all these things were negotiated. From my recollection, there was an interdepartmental group working on these matters under the leadership of DFAIT at the time, Foreign Affairs, to see how this could be structured in terms of the relationship with the U.S. government and also in terms of the remote sensing act that we have in place now in Canada.

Industry committee  No, it includes it.

Industry committee  At my level, I don't think I can really express a policy view on this. I think everything surrounding the transaction is still under review. Until we know where we're going, it's hard to say what will be the consequences of all of that.

Industry committee  Right.

Industry committee  At the time of the transaction, when the contract was signed in December 1998, part of MDA was owned by Orbital Sciences Corporation in the U.S.

Industry committee  When the contract was signed with MDA, in those days the value of the contract was in the order of below $200 million.

Industry committee  The value now of the contract with MDA is in the order of $394 million.

Industry committee  I forget the amount. I wouldn't be able to answer that. Our colleagues from MDA would know. Oh, I just got the answer. It was 67%.

Industry committee  This can be explained in two broad categories. You may remember that in the 1998-99 timeframe, the question of ITAR became an important issue. This created problems for us on the RADARSAT-2 program. We had to change the structure of the team building the spacecraft. We used to have a U.S. supplier for part of the spacecraft, and we had to terminate that contract and go to a European supplier.

Industry committee  It was the Honourable Mr. Manley.

Industry committee  The president in those days was Mr. Mac Evans.

Industry committee  RADARSAT-1 was a joint program between Canada and the U.S. The basic arrangement was that Canada was building the spacecraft and the associated ground segment, and the U.S. government, through NASA, was providing the launch vehicle, the launcher. In return, they were granted access to some of the imagery from RADARSAT-1.

Industry committee  In terms of what we did at the Canadian Space Agency, RADARSAT-2 is a unique model. As Mr. Bujold said, this is a decision dating back to the mid-1990s. To repeat what Mr. Bujold said, at the time we expected the commercial remote sensing industry to become very vibrant, to the same level as the commercial satellite communication industry was.