The Message: The Canadian Space Agency is Moving On

Canadian Space Agency President Sylvain Laporte CASI ASTRI 18 talk. Credit: CASI/SpaceQ.

Canadian Space Agency (CSA) president Sylvain Laporte surprised the audience at the CASI ASTRO 18 conference with his talk. Expecting an update on CSA activities, the audience listened attentively when Laporte addressed “the elephant in the room.”

That elephant is the budget in which the Liberals didn’t offer a new space strategy or address the budgetary problems in a meaningful way.

Laporte said you don’t always get what you want and you have to move. Which is exactly what the CSA president said they were doing.

He said he was very happy with the budget in terms of funding for fundamental science.

While Laporte put on a brave face, some participants in the audience told SpaceQ they weren’t buying the spin.

Laporte did provide an update with some new developments. The CSA is working harder on its business development pillar. Helping businesses by facilitating more B2B opportunities, particularly with exports of products.

The CSA is also working on a new Internal Strategic Relations Team announced earlier internally at the CSA. The new team is tasked to work more closely with other departments. Laporte said previous iterations of this team would meet at the technical level, not the policy level. The renewed initiatives will see more Deputy Minister level interactions.

Laporte also made mention of the follow-on for RADARSAT Constellation Mission saying they were working with other departments to move this initiative forward. In listening to Laporte and Brigadier-General Whale at the conference it certainly seems like a follow-on might happen. In what form and with what departments participating is something yet to be decided, as is any hint of a funding commitment from the government.

Listen to Mr. Laporte’s full speech in this weeks podcast.

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About Marc Boucher

Boucher is an entrepreneur, writer, editor & publisher. He is the founder of SpaceQ Media Inc. and CEO and co-founder of SpaceRef Interactive LLC. Boucher has 20+ years working in various roles in the space industry and a total of 30 years as a technology entrepreneur including creating Maple Square, Canada's first internet directory and search engine.

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