Industry Canada official to head CSA after abrupt resignation of president

The abrupt departure of Larry Boisvert just nine months into a five-year term as president of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has prompted Industry Canada to appoint retiring senior bureaucrat Guy Bujold to the position for an eight-month term. Boisvert's resignation "for personal reasons" further frustrates the department's attempts to secure a permanent replacement for Dr Marc Garneau, who stepped down in late 2005 for an unsuccessful run at federal politics.

Boisvert's surprise resignation was announced internally on December 18th, just four days after the successful launch of Radarsat II but was not announced publicly until early January. Bujold's interim term began January 1st and runs to the end of August or until a permanent replacement is found.

"I'm a known quantity and the government needed someone to carry them through this transition period," says Bujold, a 32-year veteran of the federal bureaucracy and lead official in the development of the recent S&T Strategy. "The former president indicated his desire to leave the Agency for personal reasons."

Boisvert was unavailable for comment for this article but a former senior CSA official says there were no obvious signs that Boisvert was unsatisfied with his job. However, given Boisvert's background in the private sector (34 years with Telesat Canada), the slower pace of decision-making in a government organization may have played a role.

"Boisvert's resignation came as a surprise. He seemed to want constructive change but the change of (Industry) minister (from Maxime Bernier to Jim Prentice) may have been a factor. Larry had a good relationship with Bernier," says the former long-time CSA official. "Boisvert came from the private sector where it's easier to implement decisions. Government has lots of bureaucracy and lots of people to consult with. There may have been some hurdles down the road such as a change in that Agency's status to a crown corporation or a special operating agency."

While serving as president, Boisvert implemented several changes in the CSA's executive committee and corporate structure including the disbandment of the Canadian Astronaut Office. Prior to his departure, he was leading a review of the agency's governance structure and all CSA programs.

Bujold confirms that the government had requested that the CSA conduct a review of its activities and that the work is still ongoing. That includes the current Canadian Space Strategy as well as the next generation of remote sensing satellites referred to as the Radarsat Constellation program.

Radarsat III

That program envisages a small number of smaller satellites to replace Radarsat II. Although it has received Cabinet and Treasury Board approval, the program is in the third year of a five-year definition phase. A final decision on its ultimate configuration has apparently been postponed pending the review.

"It must be determined whether the satellites will be Canadian owned, co-owned or part of a foreign project," says the former CSA official. "The ideal would be a constellation of large satellites but it's up to the engineers, the government and the budget the CSA is given."

The official also points to the CSA's location outside Ottawa and the lack of a strong liaison office within Industry Canada as a possible source of tension.

"Should it be a crown corporation or a special operating agency? The CSA does not quite fit (those organizational models)," he says. "There's a need to create new policy to govern it including a new layer of bureaucracy."

He says the most important question facing the CSA is who will replace Boisvert and from what sector. The past three permanent presidents have been from government (Mac Evans), the science community (Garneau) and the private sector (Boisvert).

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