Canada\u2019s space industry is urging the federal government to accelerate defence procurement and modernise how it acquires space-based capabilities, as global competition and security demands intensify.<\/p>\n
Space Canada, an industry advocacy group, released a 17-page position paper on Wednesday outlining recommendations aimed at speeding up procurement and aligning Canada\u2019s approach with international defence trends. The proposals come as Ottawa prepares to operationalise a new Defence Investment Agency, announced in October, designed to shorten acquisition timelines.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat the space sector needs now is for Canada to act on its intent for change and modernization, recognizing and embracing space as the force multiplier it is for national defense,\u201d Space Canada said in the paper.<\/p>\n
The group argued that Canadian space companies are ready to support faster procurement once the new agency becomes active. Among its recommendations, Space Canada called for the creation of a more \u201cresilient\u201d defence space industrial base by prioritising domestic suppliers under the government\u2019s \u201cBuy Canadian\u201d initiative.<\/p>\n
It also urged Ottawa to move away from traditional requests for information and proposals, recommending a more performance-based, commercial-style procurement model. According to the paper, greater use of commercially owned and operated space systems could reduce risk and speed up delivery compared with government-owned assets.<\/p>\n
Space Canada further highlighted funding constraints for early-stage technologies, noting that some defence commercialisation programmes currently cap support at C$250,000 ($180,000) for lower technology readiness levels. It proposed raising that limit to C$1 million per level to help emerging technologies reach maturity faster.<\/p>\n
The group also pointed to export concentration risks. While the United States remains Canada\u2019s primary defence partner, it accounts for the majority of Canadian defence exports. Space Canada said diversifying into other markets would strengthen the sector, particularly as trade frictions and tariffs affect cross-border flows. The Canadian space sector exports about 40% of its output and raises roughly C$2 billion annually, according to the paper.<\/p>\n
The push mirrors broader efforts within Canada to reduce reliance on the United States in space and defence cooperation. In November, the Canadian Space Agency said it would increase its investment in the European Space Agency to expand partnerships beyond North America.<\/p>\n
The federal government has not yet responded publicly to Space Canada\u2019s proposals, but the recommendations add pressure on policymakers to translate announced reforms into concrete procurement changes in 2026 and beyond.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Canada\u2019s space industry is urging the federal government to accelerate defence procurement and modernise how it acquires space-based capabilities, as global competition and security demands intensify. Space Canada, an industry advocacy group, released a 17-page position paper on Wednesday outlining recommendations aimed at speeding up procurement and aligning Canada\u2019s approach with international defence trends. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20752,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[584,7290,880,7291,259,5915,5812,7292,7293,7255,5783],"class_list":["post-20749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-canada","tag-canada-space-industry","tag-canadian-space-agency","tag-defence-procurement","tag-funding","tag-government-of-canada","tag-north-america","tag-ottawa","tag-space-canada","tag-space-defence","tag-space-industry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20749"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}