Space

I sat down with former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison while he was in Toronto this week, to talk about that country’s bold bets on the space sector and what Canada can learn.

Morrison helped launch Australia’s space sector into a higher orbit, and is now active in the global sector, especially in the U.S. Here’s some of what he shared with me, as well as a group of Canadian space leaders and investors:

• Space is “once again becoming a geopolitical contest,” echoing the 1950s–70s space race. Pretty much every aspect of intelligence and national security now has a space connection. 

• Canada should see space as a way into the world’s most important military and security alliances. AUKUS (Australia-UK-US) is one of those groups, as is the Quad (US, Australia, India and Japan) and the Five Eyes intelligence network of the US, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. 

• AUKUS is worth watching as it shifts attention from submarines and undersea dominance to orbital dominance. Space may be Canada’s opportunity to join an AUKUS2.

• While NATO has been slow on space, that will shift. The Ukraine war — and the role of satellites and drones — shows where future battlefields lie.

• The sector is projected to grow ~9% annually, heavily driven by semiconductors, satellites and global AI demand.

• Combined, AI and space will be the defining mega-trends of the next 50 year, shaping global security, economics, and national capabilities.

• A dedicated national space agency, with senior oversight from government, is essential for the sector’s growth, providing critical mass, coordination, and legitimacy.

• Large private-sector players are essential, too, but public capital and international partnerships are required.

• Launch leads to legitimacy. If a country can’t launch its own assets into orbit — right now, Canada can’t — it won’t be a leader. Australia is aiming to build the only near-equatorial launch site among the Five Eyes, making it more indispensable to intelligence partners. 

• Don’t stop at launch. “The sexy stuff is rockets,” but real industry growth depends on infrastructure, logistics, testing, science support and service capacity.

• Others are on the move. Japan is aggressively scaling its space ambitions, targeting 30 launches per year and leveraging tight state–industry coordination. New Zealand has Rocket Lab and a politically energized space agenda.

Here’s what Morrison says Canada needs:

• A credible national space strategy with funding behind it.

• A capability others need.

• A willingness to invest politically and financially at the scale the US and Australia are committing.

• A concrete capability that strengthens our alliances, including  space domain awareness, Arctic surveillance, satellite manufacturing, launch capacity, AI-enabled sensing and cyber integration.

• A security-focused rationale, aligned with allied threat assessments — particularly those related to China.

“At the end of the day, this is a security initiative, not an industry development initiative. At home, governments will speak about employment and economic benefits. But in Washington, Canberra, London, Tokyo, or Wellington, the argument must be strictly: ‘Here is the capability Canada brings to collective security.’”