"If Canada doesn't control its own launches, Boucher says the fear is that foreign entities could refuse to launch Canadian tech."
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This has already happened.
The U.S. refused to launch Radarsat-2[1] in 1999 because they felt it "posed a threat to U.S. national security"[2]. The Canadian government went to Russia to launch it instead, but this caused significant delay and expense. Relying on Russia for launch capability was obviously untenable by the time Russia invaded Crimea in 2014.
While Canada could partner with the EU for launch capabilities, having a home grown option would be preferable. The Radarsat debacle happened under Clinton. If we couldn't rely on American launch capability then, what does that say about now?
"If Canada doesn't control its own launches, Boucher says the fear is that foreign entities could refuse to launch Canadian tech."
------------
This has already happened.
The U.S. refused to launch Radarsat-2[1] in 1999 because they felt it "posed a threat to U.S. national security"[2]. The Canadian government went to Russia to launch it instead, but this caused significant delay and expense. Relying on Russia for launch capability was obviously untenable by the time Russia invaded Crimea in 2014.
While Canada could partner with the EU for launch capabilities, having a home grown option would be preferable. The Radarsat debacle happened under Clinton. If we couldn't rely on American launch capability then, what does that say about now?
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[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radarsat-2
[2]https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/nasa-refuses-to-launch-canad...