Conservatives call on Elon Musk to step in after Liberals provide loan to Ottawa-based satellite operator
https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/conservatives-call-on-elon-musk-to-step-in-after-liberals-provide-loan-to-ottawa-based-satellite-operator-1.7047103
36 Comments
Only this Government would think giving a company 2 billion to set up a service that already exists would be a good idea.
Funny enough this money will go to Elon anyways since they’ll probably be the one launching the satalights.
>”Less than half that amount,” Musk responded, prompting Barrett to conclude: “That sounds like a common-sense solution for Canada to me.”
Ironic wording considering anyone with common sense would be double and triple checking any claim Musk makes. Also, common sense, based on past history, would say that Musk shouldn’t be involved.
The guy has shown to have the patience, and maturity, or a petulant toddler. I wouldn’t want him anywhere near large scale infrastructure, or anything that can have a large scale impact on Canadians.
We already have companies like this, and Valley Fiber opening up entire regions of Canada, we don’t need Musk involved.
>Deputy Conservative leader Melissa Lantsman said in the House this week that Carney’s “close friend, the CEO of Telesat, got more than two billion of Canadians’ tax dollars to build a broadband network
Once again, people have to misrepresent the truth to make a point. It’s a loan not a grant.
It’s also unfortunate that Lantsman and others in her party think we should send our money to Musk, who demands subsidies not loans and proven himself unreliable, and not a Canadian company that would see the money stay in Canada.
Doesn’t sound very common sense.
Of course the conservatives want to side with a facist billionaire.
It is a loan not a grant, so we will get paid back
We are supporting a Canadian based company instead of a foreign national
We are getting a high interest rate (9-10% quoted)
We are getting actual equity in the company (12%)
I don’t trust anything Musk related, he interferes too much with stuff
All in all this seems like a poor target for criticism IMO. Conservatives seem to be chasing at the whole “do it cheaper now, but will cost you more later” angle with Musk here
Conservatives are so patriotic. Gleefully outsourcing a Canadian job for Canadians to an African who decided to move to America. All to own the libs
Elon musk is a foreign agent and needs to be kept far away from meddling in Canada
Amazing how people are still okay with the liberal government spending when they literally have done nothing with the absurd spending. Also incredible how Justin isn’t in jail considering all the bribes he’s proven to have gotten like that we charity scandal. Imagine Pierre got 500k then dished out 500m to his cronies and how pissed liberals would be. The hypocrisy is palpable.
“Please be our oligarch! We’re just as racist as you, we promise!”
🖕Elon Musk
Another reason to worry about the Conservatives.
Traditional satalite services suck. Unless telesat is doing spacex style swarms itl just be another slow useless explorenet.
I don’t think people will care about it being Canadian if it sucks.
Conservatives requesting foreign interference. News?
I think it’s super important to think about how the government spends money, our country’s independence, and the role of foreign companies in our infrastructure. We gotta support Canadian businesses and jobs, and the Telesat project could create a ton of jobs and boost our economy. Plus, it would keep control of important telecommunications stuff in canadian hands, which is good for national security.
But, I’m a bit worried about getting involved with things that don’t make Canadian companies competitive. We’ve seen that happen in other industries before.
My fellow Canadians, please remove your emotions out of this. They do not belong in a ‘better deal’ for Canada. Why not spend 1/2 the amount for something that works vs. ‘could work in the future’?
Despite what a number of you have said, Elon is Canadian.
Why pay 3.5B (2 loans/grants) when you can get the same for just over $1B… And that’s just more satellites servicing Canadians.
We could have our DND use a similar military system the US military is testing w/SpaceX right now.
Keep that oligarchal choad out of our fucking country, lol
Musk is a wretched human being and the Tesla papers show that his business was also built on fraud. I’m fine with not inviting him into the country.
The CPC does have all the cunning stunts.
Political theatre. Starlink would charge “less than half that” (meaning they wouldn’t be paying any of it back), and of course would then start lobbying to move the goalposts immediately.
Amazon Kuiper is coming. Despite this, both firms will be US regulated, and that has national security implications. A loan to a Canadian firm is fine, but they probably won’t be competitive.
Yea that would will votes.. mr ketamine musk. Excellent choice 🙄
The Canadian Conservatives are gonna go down to blow this fascist billionaire ? How surprising of the shitheads !
This is actually a praise worth investment by the LPC, and trusting the word of Musk on a twitter claim is laughable.
I’m going on 4 years with starlink this December. Where was Telestat then? Now they are planning on copying an existing and established provider? A little late to the party, by the time they finally offer a unit to complete with V1, Starlink will be fully functional direct to phones (it’s already happening) and the arctic gap will be filled with the new satellites being launched now.
I would like to understand the math behind the repayment of a $2B loan.
This particular topic is so astroturfed. Jesus.
Telesat employs Canadians in Canada. It sounds like they will be employing more Canadians in Canada.
It’s a Canadian government contract preferring a Canadian company. This is such a nothing story except to the Conservatives trying to rile up their weirdo culture warrior voters.
And just so we’re clear – Canadian voters in cities who are predominantly Liberal and NDP are now going to be funding satellites for rural Conservative voters. And once again we pay for rural voters to continue existing and modernize their lives and somehow it’s bad, we’re the bad guys.
I wouldn’t trust Muskrat for a second. The guy is a bona fide charlatan.
This is also to help the upgrade the Canadian military to better integrate with NATO and Norad
Nightmare Avengers lineup
There is alot of complaints about company not Canadian etc…. All the shit everyone buys in China. Seriously. Let him in as well! We need competition and variety here!
Look up the ownership of Telesat, it’s 63% owned by an American company called Loral (formerly AT&T) so bashing Starlink for not being Canadian is moot. If making a deal with musk would save Canadians money in the short term/ arguably long term too, why wouldn’t we take the deal. O ya- cronyism
Elon is an embarrassment to the world
I can’t believe that PP is stepping on this particular rake.
So he will call for a campaign of misinformartion using elon’s russian bots.
I am trying to understand. Telesat is a publicly traded company, with primarily American share holders, using Canadian designed, primarily European built satellites launched by Musk’s SpaceX company from with the USA, and had a Market cap of less than 600 million, is going to pay back a 2 billion dollar loan at almost 10% interest?
Am I missing anything? Because this sounds like a terrible idea that does nothing for Canada regardless any Starlink involvement. Telesat needs Musk’s rockets to launch the satellites so to all those saying don’t get Musk involved its too late.
I don’t like to give into corporate nepotism (we ALL know that loan ain’t being paid back) but I much prefer that over that Elon musk Twit who has been known to personally disable his services and products/vehicles for people he doesn’t like. We (begrudgingly) must support Canadians
Typical Conservative agenda, funnel our tax dollars into American companies
Telesat is probably giving the money straight to spacex to pay for launches anyway. https://www.telesat.com/press/press-releases/telesat-and-spacex-announce-14-launch-agreement-for-advanced-telesat-lightspeed-leo-satellites/
If the conservatives wanted to actually do something good, force the big 3 to work with other providers so we could have starlink ground stations in Canada.