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Canada deserves to know.
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Defence Minister David McGuinty announced the agreement on March 16, 2026 — a $20-million-per-year payment to Maritime Launch Services for a dedicated military launch pad near Canso, Nova Scotia. As of late March 2026, the site has a gravel road, two sea cans, and one 25-by-35-foot concrete pad. MLS reported a $47-million loss in 2025.
On March 16, 2026, Defence Minister David McGuinty announced a 10-year, $200-million lease agreement between the Department of National Defence and Halifax-based Maritime Launch Services (MLS) for a dedicated launch pad at Spaceport Nova Scotia near Canso. The deal pays MLS $20 million annually, backdated to April 1, 2025, with 90% of the rental payments directed to support the Canadian Space Agency. As of March 21, 2026, the site consists of a gravel access road, two shipping containers, and one 25-by-35-foot concrete pad — no servicing infrastructure. MLS reported $14,980 in revenue and a $47-million loss in its 2025 financial filings; combined CEO and CFO compensation was $697,308, rising to $984,930 with stock options and directors’ fees. The company’s original Cyclone 4M rocket design has never been built. No launches have occurred at the site by MLS itself; the launch pad has been used twice — by a York University rocketry club in 2023 and by Dutch firm T-Minus Engineering in November 2025. Separately, on April 21, 2026, Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon tabled Bill C-28, the Canadian Space Launch Act, the first dedicated federal legislative framework for space launch activities from Canadian territory.
On March 16, 2026, at the Canadian Space Agency’s David Florida Laboratory in Ottawa, Defence Minister David McGuinty announced that the Department of National Defence had signed a 10-year, $200-million lease agreement with Maritime Launch Services (MLS), a Halifax-based publicly traded company.
The agreement pays MLS $20 million per year. It is backdated to April 1, 2025, meaning the first year’s payment was made before the announcement was public. Ninety per cent of the rental payments flow back to the Canadian Space Agency to support its mandate.
McGuinty framed the deal in defence and sovereignty terms: "With this step, we are not only advancing our capabilities here on Earth — we are reaffirming our place among the spacefaring nations shaping the future beyond it." The press release positions the lease as a "cornerstone of Canada’s defence capabilities."
In his remarks, McGuinty also announced a separate $24.9 million in initial funding for three other Canadian rocket-development companies, bringing the total federal commitment around the file to nearly $225 million.
Halifax Examiner journalist Tim Bousquet visited the site on March 21, 2026 — five days after the announcement. His on-site inspection found:
- One gravel access road. - Two repurposed shipping containers ("sea cans"). - One concrete pad measuring 25 feet by 35 feet. - No on-site fuel storage, no control facility, no servicing infrastructure of any kind.
The lease agreement itself describes the facility as "currently provisioned with a single launch pad suitable for suborbital and orbital launch vehicles." MLS pays Nova Scotia an annual land lease of $13,500 plus HST for the property — the federal government is paying $20 million per year to access what MLS is renting for the price of a used compact car.
MLS was registered in Nova Scotia in October 2016 and listed on the NEO Exchange (now the Cboe Canada exchange) in 2022. It received provincial environmental approval for the Canso site on June 4, 2019, and federal construction approval in August 2022.
The company’s 2025 audited financial statements (filed publicly on SEDAR) report:
- Revenue: **$14,980**. - Net loss: **$47 million**. - Combined CEO and CFO compensation: $697,308. - With stock options and directors’ fees added: $984,930.
The company’s originally announced rocket — the Cyclone 4M, derived from a Soviet-era Ukrainian launch vehicle — has never been built. MLS has launched zero rockets of any kind itself. The Canso pad has been used twice: once by a York University rocketry club in 2023, and once by Dutch firm T-Minus Engineering in November 2025 for a sub-orbital test flight.
CEO Steve Matier has said that MLS plans to launch two Barracuda rockets (built by US firm Reaction Dynamics) from the site in May or June 2026, with a fourth launch planned for late 2026.
Canada is the only G7 country without a sovereign space-launch capability. Every Canadian satellite to date has reached orbit on a rocket built by — and a launch service provided by — another country: most often the United States, France, India, or Japan. The federal rationale for the MLS lease is to change that.
On April 21, 2026, Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon tabled Bill C-28, the Canadian Space Launch Act — the first dedicated federal legislative framework for space launches and re-entries from Canadian territory. The bill received first reading and is expected to enter second-reading debate in May or June 2026. As of this writing, no recorded vote has occurred. The bill is supported in principle by NordSpace Corp. and other Canadian space-launch startups; the Canso project is the most visible existing site that would operate under the new framework.
A $40-billion projected Canadian space industry over the next decade is the figure most often cited by supporters as the prize that justifies the early-stage spending.
Parliament Audit takes no position on whether Canada should pursue a sovereign space-launch capability, whether $200 million is too much or too little, or whether MLS is the right vehicle. These are matters for the elected legislature and, in due course, for the Auditor General.
What we report is the contract as written, the company as audited, and the site as it presently stands. The contrast between those three is unusual enough in a federal procurement that it merits being on the public record in one place.
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A new CRTC rule that took effect June 12, 2026 bans activation, plan-change, and most cancellation fees on cell phone and internet plans — charges that ran $30 to $80 and are estimated to have cost Canadians more than $600 million a year. The fees were friction by design: switching costs that kept customers stuck. Banning them is genuinely good for your wallet. But it treats the symptom — lock-in — without touching the disease: the concentrated market that made the fees profitable and keeps Canadian prices among the developed world's highest.
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<article>
<h1>Ottawa Signed a $200M, 10-Year Lease for a Launch Pad. The Site Is a Concrete Slab and Two Shipping Containers. The Tenant Reported $14,980 in Revenue Last Year.</h1>
<p><em>By Parliament Audit · May 15, 2026 · 7 min read</em></p>
<p><strong>On March 16, 2026, Defence Minister David McGuinty announced a 10-year, $200-million lease agreement between the Department of National Defence and Halifax-based Maritime Launch Services (MLS) for a dedicated launch pad at Spaceport Nova Scotia near Canso. The deal pays MLS $20 million annually, backdated to April 1, 2025, with 90% of the rental payments directed to support the Canadian Space Agency. As of March 21, 2026, the site consists of a gravel access road, two shipping containers, and one 25-by-35-foot concrete pad — no servicing infrastructure. MLS reported $14,980 in revenue and a $47-million loss in its 2025 financial filings; combined CEO and CFO compensation was $697,308, rising to $984,930 with stock options and directors’ fees. The company’s original Cyclone 4M rocket design has never been built. No launches have occurred at the site by MLS itself; the launch pad has been used twice — by a York University rocketry club in 2023 and by Dutch firm T-Minus Engineering in November 2025. Separately, on April 21, 2026, Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon tabled Bill C-28, the Canadian Space Launch Act, the first dedicated federal legislative framework for space launch activities from Canadian territory.</strong></p>
<h2>The deal</h2>
<p>On March 16, 2026, at the Canadian Space Agency’s David Florida Laboratory in Ottawa, Defence Minister David McGuinty announced that the Department of National Defence had signed a 10-year, $200-million lease agreement with Maritime Launch Services (MLS), a Halifax-based publicly traded company.</p>
<p>The agreement pays MLS $20 million per year. It is backdated to April 1, 2025, meaning the first year’s payment was made before the announcement was public. Ninety per cent of the rental payments flow back to the Canadian Space Agency to support its mandate.</p>
<p>McGuinty framed the deal in defence and sovereignty terms: "With this step, we are not only advancing our capabilities here on Earth — we are reaffirming our place among the spacefaring nations shaping the future beyond it." The press release positions the lease as a "cornerstone of Canada’s defence capabilities."</p>
<p>In his remarks, McGuinty also announced a separate $24.9 million in initial funding for three other Canadian rocket-development companies, bringing the total federal commitment around the file to nearly $225 million.</p>
<h2>What $200 million currently buys</h2>
<p>Halifax Examiner journalist Tim Bousquet visited the site on March 21, 2026 — five days after the announcement. His on-site inspection found:</p>
<p>- One gravel access road.
- Two repurposed shipping containers ("sea cans").
- One concrete pad measuring 25 feet by 35 feet.
- No on-site fuel storage, no control facility, no servicing infrastructure of any kind.</p>
<p>The lease agreement itself describes the facility as "currently provisioned with a single launch pad suitable for suborbital and orbital launch vehicles." MLS pays Nova Scotia an annual land lease of $13,500 plus HST for the property — the federal government is paying $20 million per year to access what MLS is renting for the price of a used compact car.</p>
<h2>Who is Maritime Launch Services</h2>
<p>MLS was registered in Nova Scotia in October 2016 and listed on the NEO Exchange (now the Cboe Canada exchange) in 2022. It received provincial environmental approval for the Canso site on June 4, 2019, and federal construction approval in August 2022.</p>
<p>The company’s 2025 audited financial statements (filed publicly on SEDAR) report:</p>
<p>- Revenue: **$14,980**.
- Net loss: **$47 million**.
- Combined CEO and CFO compensation: $697,308.
- With stock options and directors’ fees added: $984,930.</p>
<p>The company’s originally announced rocket — the Cyclone 4M, derived from a Soviet-era Ukrainian launch vehicle — has never been built. MLS has launched zero rockets of any kind itself. The Canso pad has been used twice: once by a York University rocketry club in 2023, and once by Dutch firm T-Minus Engineering in November 2025 for a sub-orbital test flight.</p>
<p>CEO Steve Matier has said that MLS plans to launch two Barracuda rockets (built by US firm Reaction Dynamics) from the site in May or June 2026, with a fourth launch planned for late 2026.</p>
<h2>The broader context</h2>
<p>Canada is the only G7 country without a sovereign space-launch capability. Every Canadian satellite to date has reached orbit on a rocket built by — and a launch service provided by — another country: most often the United States, France, India, or Japan. The federal rationale for the MLS lease is to change that.</p>
<p>On April 21, 2026, Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon tabled Bill C-28, the Canadian Space Launch Act — the first dedicated federal legislative framework for space launches and re-entries from Canadian territory. The bill received first reading and is expected to enter second-reading debate in May or June 2026. As of this writing, no recorded vote has occurred. The bill is supported in principle by NordSpace Corp. and other Canadian space-launch startups; the Canso project is the most visible existing site that would operate under the new framework.</p>
<p>A $40-billion projected Canadian space industry over the next decade is the figure most often cited by supporters as the prize that justifies the early-stage spending.</p>
<h2>What this article is not arguing</h2>
<p>Parliament Audit takes no position on whether Canada should pursue a sovereign space-launch capability, whether $200 million is too much or too little, or whether MLS is the right vehicle. These are matters for the elected legislature and, in due course, for the Auditor General.</p>
<p>What we report is the contract as written, the company as audited, and the site as it presently stands. The contrast between those three is unusual enough in a federal procurement that it merits being on the public record in one place.</p>
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Originally published by <a href="https://parliamentaudit.ca/news/spaceport-canso-200m-defence-lease">Parliament Audit</a>
under the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND 4.0</a> license.
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</article>