Elon Musk claims Starlink can provide similar internet services at half the cost. Minister Champagne disagrees. The federal government’s recent commitment to a homegrown satellite communications company has kicked off a conversation about government spending, national sovereignty, and Elon Musk. Ottawa-based satellite company Telesat secured a $2.14-billion CAD loan from the Canadian government and a $400 million loan from the Québec government last week. The combined financial boost totalling $2.54 billion CAD sparked a heated debate on X (formerly Twitter) over the weekend. The funding, for what is believed to be Canada’s largest space program, is meant to boost Telesat’s completion of Lightspeed, a low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellite network that promises to expand affordable and high-speed, internet, and 5G networks in remote and rural communities in Canada. Telesat has reportedly contracted aerospace technology firm MDA to build its satellites in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Québec. “We won’t outsource our national security & we’ll have the network to protect Canada and the Arctic.” Minister François-Philippe Champagne In a press release, the government said the project will support “2,000 jobs across the country through Telesat and its supply chain.” It is also expected to create 967 jobs in Québec. Telesat has pledged to invest over $4.4 billion in the Canadian economy over the next 15 years, create 200 post-secondary co-op jobs, and provide $1.6 million in scholarships to students in Canada with what the government says will focus on “women and Indigenous youth in science, technology, engineering, and math programs.” Last week’s announcement sparked discussion online with some, including Conservative MP Michael Barrett, criticizing the move, suggesting that funding to bring internet to Canada’s rural areas could have been given to Elon Musk’s Starlink instead. In a post, the Conservative MP asked Musk to join the discussion. Others, including former head of fiscal policy for the minister of finance, Tyler Meredith, said they do not want to see Musk run the initiative adding the project is also “about building dedicated capacity to run the satellite networks of the Canadian Armed Forces.”