Discussion · Adjournment Proceedings
Greg McLean Conservative
“The government gave a $200 million defence contract to a spaceport company that is almost bankrupt. We are paying the company $20 million a year to lease land that the company rents for only $13,500. This deal pumped up the company's stock, letting an insider cash out roughly $2 million in shares. This is a waste of tax dollars to help connected insiders, and the government must answer for it.”
“Mr. Speaker, I am following up on a question I asked in the spring about an issue called spaceport. The government awarded a 10-year contract for $200 million to fund a national defence company called Maritime Launch Services through National Defence. One of the egregious factors in this lease is that Maritime Launch Services does not own the land the government is paying for a lease on, but leases it from the Government of Nova Scotia for $13,500 per year. We are paying a $20-million lease on land that the company is leasing for $13,500, which is ridiculous in itself. Now, my colleagues across the way will say how much value has been added by the development of the site by Maritime Launch Services. That nonsense, of course, is completely defied by the company’s financial statements. In June 2025, the company had negative value and its paper assets, before considering any of its liabilities, were only $13 million. Again, that is $13 million, against which we are going to pay $20 million annual rent for the land. It is ridiculous again. The government had decided to pay this $20 million, but the second most egregious part of it, of course, is that it is paying a year in arrears when they were not even on the land. It is basically a grift, a gift to some of their connected insiders that is beyond what should happen with any responsible government. Let me read from Maritime Launch Services’ actual audited statement from the middle of 2025: “As a result, there is material uncertainty that may cast significant doubt as to whether the Company will have the ability to continue as a going concern.” It is almost a bankrupt company, and the government decided to give them $20 million from defence, in addition to a $10-million line of credit from none other than Export Development Canada. Now, we have seen Export Development Canada, of course, involved in so many other slush fund operations where the government is throwing Canadian taxpayers’ money out the door. We have got a few corporations in here. Now, what is Maritime Launch Services? Let us look at its role in this. It is really a sandwich organization between renting from one government and getting a big contract from the other government. It is a penny stock, a worthless company on the stock exchange, publicly traded, now doing the government’s bidding and getting paid egregious amounts of money for doing next to nothing. Now, we know there is a whole bunch that has to happen here, as far as spaceport goes, but this is an example of money being thrown out the door. If this is what the government is talking about, about how we spend money in defence procurement more effectively, it is completely wrong. This is a way to throw Canadian taxpayer dollars away, not actually trying to make sure it gets into the pockets of the right people. No sooner than it put $20 million into an almost bankrupt company than the principal of the company gets the lift from that, the $20 million onto a balance sheet, from five cents a share to 60¢ a share, and he unloaded almost 2 million dollars’ worth of his shares. That is a grift, through and through, and the government has to be held to account for it. It is the definition of pump and dump. I will let the government respond to that, and I will continue to push on this. This is not the way any democratically elected responsible government should be acting.”
Mr. Speaker, I am following up on a question I asked in the spring about an issue called spaceport. The government awarded a 10-year contract for $200 million to fund a national defence company called Maritime Launch Services through National Defence. One of the egregious factors in this lease is that Maritime Launch Services does not own the land the government is paying for a lease on, but leases it from the Government of Nova Scotia for $13,500 per year. We are paying a $20-million lease on land that the company is leasing for $13,500, which is ridiculous in itself. Now, my colleagues across the way will say how much value has been added by the development of the site by Maritime Launch Services. That nonsense, of course, is completely defied by the company’s financial statements. In June 2025, the company had negative value and its paper assets, before considering any of its liabilities, were only $13 million. Again, that is $13 million, against which we are going to pay $20 million annual rent for the land. It is ridiculous again. The government had decided to pay this $20 million, but the second most egregious part of it, of course, is that it is paying a year in arrears when they were not even on the land. It is basically a grift, a gift to some of their connected insiders that is beyond what should happen with any responsible government. Let me read from Maritime Launch Services’ actual audited statement from the middle of 2025: “As a result, there is material uncertainty that may cast significant doubt as to whether the Company will have the ability to continue as a going concern.” It is almost a bankrupt company, and the government decided to give them $20 million from defence, in addition to a $10-million line of credit from none other than Export Development Canada. Now, we have seen Export Development Canada, of course, involved in so many other slush fund operations where the government is throwing Canadian taxpayers’ money out the door. We have got a few corporations in here. Now, what is Maritime Launch Services? Let us look at its role in this. It is really a sandwich organization between renting from one government and getting a big contract from the other government. It is a penny stock, a worthless company on the stock exchange, publicly traded, now doing the government’s bidding and getting paid egregious amounts of money for doing next to nothing. Now, we know there is a whole bunch that has to happen here, as far as spaceport goes, but this is an example of money being thrown out the door. If this is what the government is talking about, about how we spend money in defence procurement more effectively, it is completely wrong. This is a way to throw Canadian taxpayer dollars away, not actually trying to make sure it gets into the pockets of the right people. No sooner than it put $20 million into an almost bankrupt company than the principal of the company gets the lift from that, the $20 million onto a balance sheet, from five cents a share to 60¢ a share, and he unloaded almost 2 million dollars’ worth of his shares. That is a grift, through and through, and the government has to be held to account for it. It is the definition of pump and dump. I will let the government respond to that, and I will continue to push on this. This is not the way any democratically elected responsible government should be acting.