It Behooves Us

Canada is a vibrant, wealthy country blessed with great natural resources and a multifarious population capable and skilled in every facet of human endeavour. The country embraces its international obligations, just as it governs itself in accord to its peoples' needs and the country's future. Of course no governing body is perfect, and Canada's most certainly is not, although we have far less cause for complaint than we have had at times in the past.

Still, there are troubling political decisions being made which undercut the country's needs. Some which impact the environment, others which have grave impacts on our ability to sustain ourselves, yet others that leave us too dependent on other countries, when we own the ability to look after our singular needs. One such troubling area is our national space strategy.

Seriously compromised now, despite our many successes, by our leading industrial space innovator, Macdonald Dettwiler and Associates, of Richmond, British Columbia, expressing a willingness to sell its business - and what's immeasurably more serious - taxpayer-funded and highly successful spacecraft which Canada has been dependent on as our geographic eye in the sky.

The American company, Alliant Techsystems of Minnesota, has made a buy-out offer that has been approved by MDA's shareholders. But to sell off this vital piece of Canada's space strategy would be an error of monumental proportions. The Radarsat-2 satellite providing images for the forest and mining industries along with watching over Canada's Arctic waters is a must for Canada.

Were Alliant Techsystems to take ownership of MDA, it will contract out the satellites to the U.S. military, thus effectively cutting out any future Canadian usage. The just-installed Canadian Dextre robot in the space shuttle Endeavour, another MDA production, would follow that sale. Canada's space technology future would be effectively gutted.

Canada has a firm requirement for its own space strategy, for Canadian-made inventions to remain within Canada, to ensure ongoing future economic growth for the country, and to ensure protection of our resources and geography. We have funded, through taxpayer dollars some of these innovations, and we need to cement government involvement through further support.

But with the proviso that this sale not be permitted to be concluded. MDA is the most senior of the space firms owned and operated within Canada, the only one capable of producing a major project. Our worldwide reputation for excellence in space innovation has given us a specialist niche position, and that position should be guarded jealously for the good of the country.

We need to maintain our own, extremely viable and effective industry. Indeed, most developed countries do have their own national space industries, largely supported by their governments as well as private industry. There is no excuse for Canada even casually thinking of disposing of MDA.

As a sovereign country we must have the ways and means to determine our own course of action in space.