A funny thing happened at the AIAC 2021 election virtual town hall on space, the NDP candidate, Avneet Johal for Surrey-Newton (BC) knew what he was talking about. The same couldn’t be said for the NDP candidate at the AIAC 2019 election town hall.
The AIAC space town hall went pretty much as someone familiar with the sector would expect with the exception of comments and answers by Avneet Johal. The moderator was Mike Mueller of the AIAC.
As with these types of town halls, all the candidates were supportive of the space sector, though with different approaches.
The NDP viewpoint
As for Johal, it turns out he is well versed in the space sector having graduated from the University of British Columbia where, according to his NDP candidate profile, he “helped support the foundation of the Outer Space Institute” and presented space policy at the United Nations. Prior to being a candidate for the NDP, Johal had been serving on the Board of Directors for the Los Altos Institute, a Vancouver socialist think tank.
Mr. Johal is in a tight race in his riding and recently received the endorsement of the Green Party which aren’t running a candidate in the riding. He’s up against Liberal incumbent Sukh Dhaliwal.
Should the NDP win the election it’s quite possible we would see Johal involved in the space file in some capacity. Of course, based on current polls, the NDP don’t appear likely to win the election, though they could be in a position to support the formation of a Liberal or Conservative government, thus a position of power.
In discussing how the NDP sees the space sector, Johal stated that “the NDP, we are absolutely committed to continuing with strategic investments that build on our strengths and build on our legacy and build on the history of achievement in this sector here in Canada.”
He went to talk about workers and how Canada needs to make sure it has a trained workforce. “A recent report I think, was maybe 2018 indicated that six out of 10 companies in the aerospace industry here in Canada, struggled to find skilled personnel to fill their positions to the extent that many positions were left unfilled. And so we have to think about how we are going to prepare our workers, our younger workers, as well as workers who are retraining and transitioning into a new career.”
Beyond these points, Johal appeared very familiar with the Canadian space program and the issues facing the sector.
The Conservative viewpoint
Ed Fast, the incumbent candidate for the Conservatives in Abbotsford (BC), is an experienced politician having been a member of parliament since 2006 and has served as Foreign Affairs and International Trade minister in the Harper governments.
Fast was quick to differentiate himself from the other party candidates and offered three Conservative pledges to help the aerospace sector.
- Pledge number 1 – “We want to incentivize Canadian companies to develop their products right here at home by cutting the income tax rate in half for new patented technologies that are developed right here in Canada. And so we’re going to establish this patent box regime which by the way other countries like the United States are already doing. And what happens is that our best and brightest they flee Canada because the capital is down there, the opportunity to grow is down there and the tax environment is down there, we need to compete.”
- Pledge number 2 – “We expect that we would make the investment environment more attractive by introducing the use of flow through shares based on the model that has made Canada a world leader in, for example, mining financing, we can do better in terms of how we incentivize investors to keep their money in Canada.”
- Pledge number 3 – Fix “a broken SR&ED (Scientific Research and Experimental Development) program.”
Fast also stated that a Conservative government “review all of Canada’s research and development programs, that would include SIF (Strategic Innovation Fund) as well, which plays a very significant role in promoting our aerospace sector here in Canada.”
We’ve been down the review road many times with a Conservative government, so expect more of the same should they win. That would likely mean a delay in funding any significant new programs.
Fast was also the candidate to mention, though barely, regulatory reform, saying “and I’ve already presented to a number of innovations that we’d like to introduce in Canada, that will keep companies here rather than having chasing them out of Canada elsewhere. Regulatory certainty, as investments are made in Canada. I believe we also need a trade policy that maximizes our ability to collaborate with our most trusted partners around the world when it comes to space in our space development. And finally, I think we need governments that acknowledge that they have a plan in place, a long term plan, as your industry has asked for, that will provide the strategy and the support for successful industry.”
The Liberal viewpoint
François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal Candidate for Saint-Maurice—Champlain (QC) and the former ISED minister, used his time during the town hall to talk about the Liberal government record and how it had responded to the needs of the community by making substantial investments. This included mentioning the recent large investment in Telesat several times. His messaging didn’t deviate from what we’ve heard before.
In response to Fast’s comment on the Strategic Innovation Fund, Champagne said “SIF has been instrumental because of the $2B we put in the budget and the $250 million set aside for SME’s was instrumental. And I just want to be clear to everyone, obviously, I’m in favour of a national space and aerospace strategy. But you would agree with me, Mike (Mueler), that time was of the essence. You know, when I became industry minister, investment needed to be done now, that was strategic immediate action with a long term vision, because when I spoke to you, Mike, and Suzanne (Benoît – President of Aéro Montreal), and the CEO’s across the nation, they said, Minister, we all in favour of a strategy, but you need to act now.”
Champagne did say that more SIF “investment (was) in the pipeline.”
And that pretty much sums up the Liberal messaging.
The Bloc viewpoint
What to say about the Bloc Québécois (BQ). They won’t be forming the government and BQ candidate Sébastien Lemire for Abitibi-Témiscamingue (QC) basically said their role is to keep the government accountable. He did speak to climate change and how space assets could help and he also touted indirectly the Telesat deal with the Québec government which will see their Lightspeed satellites assembled in Québec. He said of the Telesat deal, “So there’s an example of the federal jurisdiction has to speak with the provinces that has the expertise, I think that we all have to work together to make sure that we are properly developing the industry in Québec and in Canada.”