Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen in a pre-recorded video during a viewing party of the Artemis II launch, in Longueuil, Que., in April.ANDREJ IVANOV/AFP/Getty Images
The federal government has introduced legislation to enable Canadian satellite builders and launch providers to go where they have never gone before – at least, not from their home turf.
The proposed bill, dubbed the Canadian Space Launch Act, would provide the first regulatory framework for lofting rockets and payloads into orbit and for the re-entry of material from space back to Earth, all at sites within Canada.
The bill, unveiled on Tuesday by federal Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon, would cover both military and commercial space activities. While it makes good on a long-standing pledge by Ottawa to clear a path for commercial space flight, it also resonates with a more recent push by Prime Minister Mark Carney to reduce Canada’s dependence on foreign entities to support capabilities that are important to the national interest.
At a press briefing in Ottawa, Mr. MacKinnon noted that Canada is the only G7 country without its own launch capacity, despite its many other achievements in space, such as Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen’s participation in NASA’s recent Artemis II lunar mission.
“Canada has reached the moon but still lacks its own way – its own sovereign way – to space, and that changes today,” Mr. MacKinnon said.
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Transport officials said the bill clears the path for Canada to establish its own launch capability, an objective that received funding in last fall’s federal budget.
The bill includes amendments to existing legislation, such as the Aeronautics Act, Canada Transportation Act, Secure Air Travel Act and Carriage by Air Act, to ensure launches can take place without posing risks to aviation and maritime transport, among other activities.
The new legislation also provides insurance and indemnification requirements in case of damages.
A handful of Canadian startups are pushing into the launch arena in various ways, building on the country’s existing aerospace sector that is better known for robotics, remote sensing and other subsystems used by spacecraft worldwide.
The bill was specifically crafted with satellite launches in mind – currently, no one in Canada is aiming to send crewed vehicles into space any time soon. “However, the proposed legislative amendments would establish the foundation to regulate this activity in the future,” said Hicham Ayoun, a senior communications adviser with Transport Canada, in an e-mail.
Once the bill is passed, “Canada has the opportunity to build a truly end-to-end space ecosystem,” said Brian Gallant, the chief executive of Space Canada, an industry association.
Canada has a long history in space flight and became the third country to have a satellite in orbit with the launch of Alouette 1 in 1962.
However, Canada has always looked to other countries, particularly to U.S.-based launch providers, to put its hardware into space.
Mr. MacKinnon said that such reliance “sends investment out of our country, creates costly delays and leaves critical infrastructure exposed to decisions beyond our control.”
A visitor places a star-shaped note marking their predicted launch time on a decorative moon display as space enthusiasts gather for a watch party for the Artemis II mission, at the Gerstein Science Information Centre in Toronto on April 1.Carlos Osorio/Reuters
For more than a decade, a series of technical innovations in space hardware and a growing commercial space sector in the U.S. have led the way for launch providers who wish to emulate their example in Canada.
In the past year, this prospect has grown more appealing as shifting geopolitical winds demonstrated why a country such as Canada, with a large land area that requires surveillance and communications from orbit, may be at risk without domestic access to space.
Canada has previously hosted suborbital rocket launches that reached the threshold of space – most recently in the 1990s from a site near Churchill, Man.
Suborbital launches would still be covered by existing legislation, but not satellite launches into Earth orbit. More recently, Ottawa has said it would be able to approve such launches on a case-by case-basis to support a nascent domestic industry. The new legislation would supersede this with the establishment of permanent regulations.
Last month, the Department of National Defence announced a trio of companies that will be awarded grants under its Launch the North initiative, designed to foster domestic launchers. In addition, Ottawa has provided funding for access to a commercial spaceport operated by Maritime Launch Services near Canso, N.S.
In a statement to The Globe and Mail, the company’s president and chief executive, Stephen Matier, said the legislation is critical because it establishes the regulatory clarity and authority required to conduct orbital launch and re-entry from Canada.
“From our perspective, it provides the certainty needed to advance operations, attract global launch customers, and fully activate Spaceport Nova Scotia as a licensed orbital spaceport,” he said.
A second company, NordSpace, based in Markham, Ont., is developing its own spaceport in Newfoundland, creating something of a domestic race to be the first to send a payload into orbit from Canada.