Ottawa, 6 May 2024. CEO Stewart Bain addressed the House of Commons Standing Committee on National Defence.
CEO Stewart Bain addressed the Standing Committee on National Defence (NDDN), highlighting the challenges inherent in Space Defence and emphasizing Canada’s pivotal role in promoting sustainable practices to ensure a safe, secure, and sustainable space environment.
Stewart Bain emphasized the importance of the Space Domain to Canadians for both National Security and Economic Prosperity to the House of Commons Permanent Standing Committee on National Defence. This committee, mandated to review Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces | Forces armées canadiennes, is closely examining Space Defence.
As stated to the committee, on 29 April, by G. Michael Adamson: every CAF operation and activity is dependent on space-based capability. It follows that innovating and further developing national space-based capabilities will enhance national security.
Globally, consistently large investments serve to expand and diversify space-based capabilities. The space economy is estimated at US$550B in 2023 and is expected to grow to as much as US$2 trillion by 2035, 80% qualifying as commercial activity. Hence, the space sector will become more and more critical to the growth of diverse economic sectors and to the security requirements of Canada and its allies.
Realizing the full benefits of space-based capacities will require coordinated cross-sector policies and investments from private and government entities to leverage R&D. Enabling a competitive and robust industrial base to thrive in Canada’s Space sector will serve to expand other sectors including finance, cybersecurity, communications, the environment, ocean & fisheries, economic diversification, natural resource management, and agriculture.
Canada can leverage over 60 years of capacity building and public investment in Space by strategically contracting Canadian companies (startups and SMEs) and by lean-in to new capabilities and technologies of these highly skilled Canadian firms, as they transition from R&D to commercial offerings. This is critical and the lack of an agile and orchestrated government procurement policy, that rewards rapidly innovating enterprises, is a weakness in Canada’s current economic model.
Reflections from being a witness on the DND Standing Committee for Space Defence:
The space economy is “the” economy, they are one and the same. It’s all about meaningful jobs that give Canadians a strong sense of purpose as they are given the opportunity to take pride in addressing immediate global challenges and to leverage threats, domestic and foreign, as a call to focus and create new jobs and capabilities in Canada for the benefit of all.
Canada must stand on its own merits and capabilities to be a good partner to its allies within NATO and FVEY. The future of space will be dominated by commercial enterprise and the best defence is a strong offence. DND Canada must have a clear strategy and mandate to reliably draw on a robust, competitive, and domestic industrial base. This means Canada must be more proactive to contract efficiently with innovative Canadian companies (startups and SMEs), to lean-in, and take risks with new capabilities and technologies as products and services transition from R&D to becoming established commercial offerings. This is a critical element to success and a weakness in Canada’s current economic model that must be corrected in short order.
Space is the foundation of our global economy and touches every aspect of every Canadian’s life every day. So, Canada must foster a whole of government consideration of space and its impact on all of us. It follows that the National Space Council must consider every Canadian’s interests regarding space and cannot be led by one department but rather, must be led by the top of government to ensure complete consideration of the diverse needs and desires of all Canadians while striving to protect our unique values, economic interests, and security of our country.
I wish to thank the Standing Committee on Defence for the incisive examination of Space Defence and for the opportunity to be a witness on the matter.
Table of Contents:
- Clip 1: (Top of page) Transitioning from Research and Development to commercialization of innovative technologies. (0:44)
- Clip 2: The necessity of establishing a Space Council in Canada. (1:18)
- Clip 3: Advocating for the Canadian Space Council to directly report to the Office of the Prime Minister (PMO) for increased efficiency. (0:40)
- Clip 4: Contrasting the impact of GPS with the potential impact of precision Space Situational Awareness (SSA). (1:13)
- Clip 5: Utilizing NorthStar predictive analytics in support of National Defence. (0:44)
- Clip 6: Full recording of the NDDN discussion on Space Defence. (55:26)
Clip 2: The necessity of establishing a Space Council in Canada
Clip 3: Advocating for the Canadian Space Council to directly report to the Office of the Prime Minister (PMO) for increased efficiency
Clip 4: Contrasting the impact of GPS with the potential impact of precision Space Situation
Clip 5: Utilizing NorthStar predictive analytics in support of National Defence
Clip 6 (Big video) : Full recording of the NDDN discussion on Space Defence