Canadian government’s satellite deal has Tories calling for Elon Musk involvement
- by Global News
- Sep 21, 2024
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Posted September 21, 2024 8:46 am
6 min read Caught on video: Disturbing incident in Gastown
“No one asked Elon, ‘Do you want a $2-billion loan from the government of Canada at a nine per cent interest rate and give up 10 per cent of Starlink?'” he said. “I think there would have been a very different response.”
He noted that a portion of the loan will actually end up going to Musk’s SpaceX because Telesat uses the company to launch satellites.
A spokesperson for Innovation Canada said the new loan replaces a previous $1.44-billion loan announced in 2021, which did not go ahead. The government is maintaining its commitment to spend $600 million to buy internet capacity once the system is operational.
The Liberal government has a years-long initiative to ensure all Canadian households are connected to high-speed internet, with the goal of getting to 98 per cent in 2026 and 100 per cent by 2030.
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The last communities are the most challenging because they rely on satellite service. Traditional satellite internet, which uses a geostationary satellite higher up in orbit, has limitations.
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Newer-generation low Earth orbit satellite systems, like the one being launched by Telesat and those used by Musk’s Starlink, use many satellites that circulate closer to Earth and can offer high-speed internet without the same issues.
Telesat’s launch plans have already been delayed by years. Goldberg said those delays, some of which were related to challenges around COVID-19, are “in the rear view” and the company plans to be fully in service with global coverage by the end of 2027.
Starlink’s coverage map shows service as available in Canada, though its parent company didn’t answer questions about service availability in the country’s most remote areas.
After Barrett’s exchange with Musk, Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne accused the Conservatives of wanting to “sell out our national security.”
“When you are in the farther north, you need a reliable network, and you need sovereignty and resiliency in the network. So to suggest otherwise to me is a bit crazy.”
He said Telesat would design and manufacture the system in Canada.
“That’s the kind of sovereignty and resiliency that we want to see, especially when you’re talking about critical military infrastructure that we need also for the defence of the North.”
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In a statement, the Conservatives stuck to their argument that Musk would be a better bet. Industry critic Rick Perkins said “there’s an established, available platform that can provide high-speed internet today, and it wouldn’t require billions of taxpayer dollars going into the pockets of Liberal-connected insiders.”
The Conservatives also tried to connect the contract to former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney, who was appointed as an economic adviser to the Liberals on Sept. 9, four days before the Telesat loan was announced.
Deputy Conservative leader Melissa Lantsman said in the House this week that Carney’s “close friend, the CEO of Telesat, got more than two billion of Canadians’ tax dollars to build a broadband network that other firms could have built for half that price.”
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