News

The president of Canada's leading space company dismissed concerns yesterday that a U.S. buyout of his company could threaten Canadian sovereignty over the Arctic and control of a vital national-security asset.

Daniel Friedman, president and CEO of MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd., asserted that Ottawa will retain legal control over the flow of data from its Radarsat-2 satellite no matter who owns the company.

The satellite, launched in December, was financed in large part by a federal government commitment to buy $445-million in satellite data from MDA.

A proposed $1.3-billion deal to sell the company's geospatial unit to a U.S. weapons and space contractor, Alliant Techsystems Inc., has raised objections from opposition politicians and concerns from Conservative backbenchers.

But as he defended the deal before the House of Commons industry committee yesterday, Mr. Friedman said that Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier and his successors will be able to control the flow of every piece of data from the satellite.

“The minister has shutter control,” he said.

Mr. Friedman noted that the satellite is operated by Canadians at a Canadian government facility in St. Hubert, Que. Even if it is bought by a U.S. firm, the MDA subsidiary that operates it, MDA Systems Group, will still work under a Canadian licence and be subject to Canadian laws, he said.

The Canadian government will have access to all data created for it, and the law stipulates that nothing can be sent out of the country without its approval, he said.

“There's no way to do anything other than what Canada says,” Mr. Friedman told the committee.

A foreign-policy group, the Rideau Institute, has argued that U.S. laws would require Alliant Techsystems to respond to national-security and defence demands of the U.S. government – even if they conflict with Canadian interests.

With a race to assert claims to the Arctic – and its rich resources reserves – heating up because straits like the Northwest Passage will soon be navigable, Canada's ability to monitor activity in the Arctic could be crucial. While Canada considers the passage an internal waterway, the U.S. does not accept Canada's claim.

Industry Minister Jim Prentice has until April 21 to block the sale under the Investment Canada Act, if he deems it is not in Canada's interests.

After that, Mr. Bernier could block transfer of the satellite licence under a 2005 radar satellite law.

Conservative MPs such as Art Hanger said they still are not completely convinced by Mr. Friedman's argument that Canada will retain control. Opposition MPs were even more skeptical.

“What else would you expect him to say?” Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae said. “Are we getting the assurances with respect to our sovereignty, with respect to the use of this technology, that we require? And my view is we're not.”

Many MPs, including Conservatives, have also raised concerns about Canada's biggest space company being sold to U.S. interests.

But Mr. Friedman said that a company of MDA's size simply cannot survive without access to U.S. space and defence contracts, and that requires association with a U.S. firm that employs American citizens, because they meet U.S. security requirements.

“There is not enough business in Canada under any government or any budget or any plan to support a company of our size. It's just not possible. We have to export and we have to export to the United States.”

Mr. Rae, however, argued that other countries would not allow a sensitive technology company to be built with the aid of public funds and then allow it to be sold to foreign interests.

“Is it conceivable that the Americans would do this? Is it conceivable that the British would do something like this? Or the French would do something like this?” he asked.

With a report from The Canadian Press