Editorial - 22-5

There's been much agonizing and gnashing of teeth over MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates' proposed sale of its information systems division to US-based Alliant Techsystems (ATK). This is both natural and understandable. No citizen wants to witness such prize technology jewels largely paid for with taxpayer dollars sold out from under our feet.

How the bulk of Canada's remote sensing and robotic expertise became resident in one company is too convoluted to reiterate here. Suffice to say that the previous government's decision to enter into a public-private partnership with MDA in the late 90s started the process leading to the current dilemma.

For those willing to think outside the box, there is a solution. It's clean, would almost certainly be popular with Canadians and would cost far less than lopping a penny off the GST. In a nutshell, the Canadian government should purchase the MDA assets for slightly more than ATK is offering ($1.3 billion), establish a subsidiary to the Canadian Space Agency and retain control over our sovereignty, security and key technologies.

This isn't some wild-eyed idea lifted from the Hugo Chavez nationalism toolbox. Governments of most advanced nations own their critical space technologies and assets. MDA's information systems division is profitable. It could become even more so if Canada green lit the Radarsat Constellation project and started investing the kind of money in its space technology befitting an advanced, progressive nation. It's now up to the government to determine what kind of nation it wishes Canada to be.