Andrew Lawton

“Mr. Speaker, Canada has long been a global leader in the aerospace sector. Establishing Canadian sovereign space launch capabilities will drive billions in investments, create good-paying jobs, increase Canada’s sovereignty, and support a commercial space launch and re-entry industry that could be worth up to $40 billion. This is what we are investing in. These are essential capabilities that protect Canada and create massive economic benefits for Canadians. In fact, it is estimated that the sector sustains 225,000 jobs across Canada. Through Canada’s first-ever defence industrial strategy, along with our recent investments in aerospace capabilities, we are working hard to grow this sector even further. This strategy provides the signal to industry, allies, partners, the Canadian Armed Forces and Canadians that we are moving forward quickly and with purpose. The defence industrial strategy identifies space as one of 10 sovereign capabilities for Canada. These are the capabilities we need to invest in and foster so that our military can remain agile, effective and ready to meet the requirements of a more complex security environment, and so that we can support Canadian workers and Canadian industry by building on what we already do very well. By prioritizing space capabilities and other sovereign capabilities, and by making a host of other changes to how we are rebuilding and re-equipping our forces while reinvesting in them, we anticipate that the defence industrial strategy will deliver impressive results, including 125,000 high-quality jobs across the Canadian economy, an increase in total revenue for the Canadian defence industry of more than 240%, and a 50% increase in Canada’s defence exports. This will all occur over the next decade. Our new build-partner-buy strategy means that we are investing in Canadian workers, in Canadian industry and in the Canadian economy. Our investments in Canada’s space capabilities will translate into new jobs, stronger supply chains, greater industrial capacity and a more resilient Canadian economy. I will turn to one such investment in particular, the spaceport near Canso, Nova Scotia. As the Minister of National Defence announced back in March, Canada has signed a 10-year, $200-million agreement with Maritime Launch Services to build out Canada’s sovereign launch infrastructure. As part of this agreement, Maritime Launch Services must spend 90% of that funding here in Canada. This means that $180 million will go back into Canadian businesses. Moreover, we expect that, once complete, it will help bring direct and indirect benefits to Canada’s space, industrial, hospitality and tourism sectors, including those in the local community. Canada and Canso, in particular, are a natural choice for this launch capability. We have the space expertise, the industrial capacity and a site near Canso that is suitable for safe and effective launch operations, because of its proximity to the ocean. That is why many of our allies and partners have already expressed interest in collaborating with us to support their own launches, which will create even more opportunities in the region. The Canadian Space Agency is in Longueuil, and I have visited it many times. This capability is incredibly important to our national defence and our sovereignty. In short, this investment is good news for Nova Scotia, for Canada and for everyone who works in the space domain.”