With parliament reconvened, one piece of legislation on our radar is Bill C-28, the Canadian Space Launch Act, which was in second reading in April before the House took its summer break. In the meantime, more than two years after Ottawa announced that “substantive negotiations” on a Technology Safeguards Agreement with the U.S had been completed, the agreement remains unsigned.
Bill C-28 in second reading
Bill C-28 would amend the Aeronautics Act to give Canada its first dedicated legal framework for rocket launches and re-entries, covering permits, the certification of launch sites, liability and indemnification, and zoning around spaceports. Transport Canada has authorized launches case by case under an interim regime since 2023. Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon, who as Government House Leader also sets the order in which the House takes up government bills, opened second-reading debate on April 28 by telling MPs that Canada is “the only G7 country without its own sovereign space launch and re-entry capabilities.”
Second reading is the stage at which MPs debate a bill’s principle. The motion MacKinnon moved is that C-28 be read a second time and referred to a committee.
The second reading can end in several ways. Debate can run until no MP rises to speak, when the Speaker calls a vote, by voice or, if five members stand, a recorded division. Or all parties can agree, by unanimous consent, to deem the bill read and sent to committee, a common route for bills with support across the House.
If debate drags, the government can move time allocation, a motion that caps the hours left. As the Liberals currently have a majority, they can enforce a cap if needed.
After the vote
The bill would then go to a Commons committee, most likely the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, which would hear witnesses and go through the bill clause by clause. At the moment the Transportation Committee has no meetings scheduled and we note there are 40 days left this year in the House of Commons sitting calendar.
Once the bill clears the Committee the bill then returns to the House for the report stage, when any MP can propose amendments, and a final third-reading vote. The Senate repeats the process, and can get a head start by studying the bill’s subject while the Commons still has it. Both chambers must pass the same text before Royal Assent.
It’s still possible Bill C-28 gets Royal Assent before the end of the year, though it’s more likely it happens in 2027.
The U.S. Technology Safeguards Agreement
A second piece of Canada’s launch plans is also unfinished. The Technology Safeguards Agreement (TSA) with the United States, which governs how U.S. launch technology can be used on Canadian soil, remains unsigned more than two years after the two countries finished negotiating it.
Under a TSA, the host country (Canada), agrees to protect U.S. launch hardware and data on its territory, through measures such as controlled areas at launch sites and limits on who can access the technology. The agreement is needed before U.S.-origin rockets can fly from Spaceport Nova Scotia, the site Maritime Launch Services (MLS) is developing near Canso. A British government explainer on its own agreement provides a good example.
Canada announced in August 2024 that “substantive negotiations” had been completed. Asked by SpaceQ recently what the status of the agreement was, Global Affairs Canada said: “Canada and the United States continue to work towards finalizing the administrative arrangements necessary to support the Canada-U.S. Technology Safeguards Agreement (TSA)’s implementation prior to taking action to sign and subsequently bring the agreement into force.”
So what’s changed since August 2024?
The most obvious change is the change in the U.S. government as Donald J. Trump won the presidential election in November 2024. If Kamala Harris had won, it’s possible the TSA would be in place by now. With a new government, a Trump government, one that is very different than the previous Biden/Harris administration, the TSA remains unsigned.
Importantly, the new Trump administration issued a new National Space Transportation Policy on Aug. 20, replacing the country’s 2013 policy, which we reported on in August. A key part of the new policy is a review of export policy and controls due 120 days after the announcement. That puts an expected update on Friday, December 18, 2026. An update to the U.S. export policy and controls could affect the TSA.
Why does a TSA matter anyway?
Spaceports in the U.S. are getting busier by the year with only so much available capacity. Most of that capacity is used by SpaceX. Nearly all of that capacity is currently split between Florida (Cape Canaveral or Kennedy) or California (Vandenberg).
It will be several years before SpaceX’s newly announced Starbase Louisiana comes online. Meanwhile Vandenberg is limited in the amount of launches it can accommodate with SpaceX dominating the schedule. And the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), which is currently underused, will see it’s usage grow quickly when Rocket Lab brings their new Neutron rocket online and Firefly Aerospace ramps up its cadence.
Meanwhile, the number of launch providers needing Spaceport access will be increasing as Stoke Space, Relativity Space and Astra come online. Stoke Space and Relativity Space will join Blue Origin, ULA, SpaceX and Firefly Aerospace with launch pads at Cape Canaveral, meaning they all have to share the available launch calendar.
Also a factor is a payload capacity crunch. Even with launch capacity increasing, payload capacity is decreasing. The reason is simple, SpaceX, which dominates the launch calendar, is increasingly using most its launch capacity for its own payloads with small payloads being hit the hardest.
All of this to say, that if a TSA was in place, payloads and newer U.S. launch providers needing small launch and medium-lift launch pads, would see Spaceport Nova Scotia, and even the NordSpace Atlantic Spaceport Complex (if available), as viable options.
MLS has been courting U.S. launch providers for several years now. U.S. launch companies needing spaceport access and services means more revenue for MLS, and for the local community, more jobs.
What’s next for Bill C-28
On Thursday we might have some idea of when the Second reading of Bill C-28 will continue. After Question Period every Thursday, the Opposition House Leader asks the Government House Leader what business the government plans to call for the rest of the week and the week after.