The new leader of the Conservative Party is Erin O’Toole, a former member of Royal Canadian Air Force, a lawyer, and in the previous Harper Conservative government, the Minister of Veterans Affairs. In an interview with SpaceQ last fall shortly before the 2019 Federal Election, O’Toole provided some insights on Conservative Party space policies.
During the run up to the 2019 Federal Election, the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada held a series of Town Halls including in Toronto. That event, held October 3rd, included Conservative Party member for Durham (Ontario) Erin O’Toole.
During the event, and when questioned about the Conservative Party’s view of the space sector, Mr. O’Toole was quite vocal in his support of the space program, speaking in broad terms but mentioning the great relationship Canada has with the US space program and praising our astronaut core.
After the event concluded, SpaceQ had the opportunity to interview O’Toole who said that “he anticipates” a Conservative government “would” honour Canada’s commitment to NASA’s Lunar Gateway and Artemis program.
He was not however a fan of the Liberal’s Strategic Innovation Fund, saying a Conservative government would get rid of big programs like SIF and would’t have programs in place that pick “winners.”
Listen to our October 3, 2019 interview on the space file with Erin O’Toole
On the issue of regulatory reform, O’Toole said a Conservative government would push forward changes to help the space industry. With respect to the Liberal’s new Space Strategy, O’Toole for the most dodged the question.
Now while O’Toole and the Conservative Party do say they support the space program and are likely to proceed with the Lunar Gateway and Moon objectives the Liberals have put forward, don’t expect a Conservative Party to bring much in the way of new money to the space file.
The Conservatives will likely continue to support the Department of National Defence and their ongoing efforts to grow their space assets, but the last Conservative government cut the base funding of the Canadian Space Agency starting in 2010 from $300 million a year to $260 million. The Liberals didn’t restore that funding and it seems unlikely the Conservatives would either.
