National Defence

Opening remarks

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to the committee for the opportunity to speak today about the impact of Canada's defence industrial strategy and the efforts to develop a Canadian sovereign launch capability. Before I begin, I want to acknowledge the Algonquin Anishinabe as the traditional stewards of this land. My name is Hugh Kolias, and I am chief executive officer of the Canada Rocket Company. We are a Canadian owned and controlled company developing medium-lift launch capability in Canada. We are also one of three companies on today's panel that have received funding through the innovation for defence excellence and security—or IDEaS—program's launch the north initiative. In short, this initiative aims to accelerate the development of sovereign launch in Canada. I want to start by emphasizing how grateful we are that the Government of Canada has launched this initiative. We are an example of how the defence industrial strategy is working. The public signalling and initial funding from the launch the north initiative have acted as a significant catalyst. To date, every single public dollar invested in the Canada Rocket Company has attracted nearly two dollars of private…

Opening remarks

Thanks. Good morning. As stated, I'm Mike Greenley, the CEO of MDA Space, Canada's largest space company. It was founded 57 years ago, has 4,000 employees and is headquartered in Canada and growing globally. We're active in the defence sector through the provision of earth and space observation satellites, space-based defence communication satellites and space control capabilities. Through our subsidiary 49North, we provide C4ISR capacity to the joint forces. I have personally led companies in the Canadian defence sector for the past 35 years. I spent six years as the chair of the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries, and I'm currently the chair of Space Canada, the industry association for Canada's space companies. MDA Space is a defence prime contractor and prime integrator, meaning that we sign the primary contract with the government, select and manage the supply chain, integrate our own systems, supply our subsystems and components to the platform, and shoulder financial and logistical burdens and risk in order to deliver complex national programs on time and on budget. In our case, that often means we are responsible for launching and operating…

Opening remarks

Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to appear today in my capacity of CEO of NordSpace, a 100% Canadian-owned company, dedicated for years to providing a made-in-Canada sovereign space launch capability with our manufacturing facility located in Markham, Ontario, and spaceport located in Newfoundland and Labrador. Space is recognized in defence policy as critical to our sovereignty, our security and our prosperity. NordSpace's mission is to help Canada translate that policy ambition into practical, domestic capability. Today we have a choice to make and a narrow window of opportunity to make it. Will Canada choose to be a participant or a leader in space? Will we choose to be buyers or builders? NordSpace builds orbital launch vehicles, a spaceport and spacecraft, designed, manufactured and soon to be launched in Canada. Our focus is simple: Canadian payloads on Canadian rockets from Canadian soil to save Canadian lives on and off the battlefield while securing thousands of Canadian jobs, components and intellectual property. This end-to-end approach is intended to complement the Government of Canada's procurement framework by…

Opening remarks

Mr. Chair and members of the committee, thank you for the invitation. My father came to Canada as an immigrant seeking safety, opportunity and stability. Canada also gave that to me and to so many others, and this is why I'm starting this company here. Today, the question is whether Canada remains a safe, sovereign and technologically capable nation or becomes dependent on others for its most critical infrastructure. This is the question the defence industrial strategy was written to answer. As a student and a scientist, I have too often seen innovation leave Canada. Good people have left, and good ideas have emerged from elsewhere. As a founder, I decided to build a company that secures advanced manufacturing, highly skilled jobs and strategic capacity here, at home. Reaction Dynamics isn't just a start-up. It's designed to underpin Canada's economy, sovereignty and role in allied security for decades. I want to leave you with three problems and three things we, as industry, can offer in return. The first problem is talent drain. The strategy puts a number on it: 125,000 new defence jobs by 2035. Those jobs will not appear on their own. They will come from keeping our best…