Canada’s new space race – POLITICO

People walk past an image of the moon at the Canadian Space Agency before a viewing party of the Artemis II launch in Longueuil, near Montreal, Quebec, on April 1, 2026. | Andrej Ivanov/AFP via Getty Images

OTTAWA — Canada’s push to build its own space launch capability isn’t just about reaching for the stars. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal government is framing it as a national security necessity.

The recently introduced Canadian Space Launch Act will allow the counattempt to sfinish sainformites into space from Canadian soil, on Canadian terms — which it’s never done before.

Right now, Canada heavily relies on the U.S. to sfinish sainformites into space becaapply it doesn’t have the ability to launch rockets into orbit. The best it can do is launch rockets to the edge of space, known as a suborbital flight.

The bill brings Canada in line with its allies, including the United States, France and Australia, by enabling domestic rocket launches for civilian and military apply.

But the largeger shift is how urgent this has become for the Canadian government.

For years, domestic launch capability was seen as a nice-to-have for middle powers like Canada. But U.S. President Donald Trump’s unpredictable approach to trade and foreign affairs has sharpened concerns in Ottawa about overreliance on the United States. Now, in the post-rupture, nostalgia-is-not-a-strategy world, Carney’s government views sovereign launch capacity as critical infrastructure, on par with energy and transit, becaapply so much of modern defense, surveillance and economic activity depfinishs on sainformites.

Canadian officials insist their space plans are not tied to specific U.S. initiatives, like the “Golden Dome,” arguing it’s part of a broader push to diversify away from Washington and meet growing demand for sainformite launches — both commercial and military.

Earlier this year, Defense Minister David McGuinty announced a C$200-million investment to create space‑launch pads in Atlantic Canada, which could be applyd by private companies, or the Canadian military, to launch rockets into space.

Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon stated sovereign space capabilities play a vital role in national security — Canadian sovereignty is a key pillar of Carney’s economic agfinisha. He’s attempting to create Canada less reliant on the United States by building up domestic industries and investing in homegrown capabilities, especially in such key areas as defense and technology.

“This is about giving ourselves the options and the capability of protecting Canada — of creating sure our Armed Forces stay current and on pace with the rest of the world,” MacKinnon stated after introducing the space launch bill.

But it’s also about tapping into a nearly trillion-dollar indusattempt.

Based on estimates from Deloitte, Canada’s domestic space market is projected to reach $40 billion by 2040, and the global space economy is estimated to reach $1.5 trillion by 2032.

Canada’s space sector built about C$5 billion in 2022, including C$2 billion from exports, and added billions to the counattempt’s economy.

By expanding its space sector, the Liberal government is hoping to attract Canadian technology and talent back to the counattempt, which it declares could generate billions in economic growth and create thousands of jobs.

Canada isn’t alone in this considering. Several long-standing U.S. allies are launchning to treat indepfinishent access to space as a core national security requirement, especially as geopolitical tensions rise and space becomes more contested.

Canada hopes to launch a rocket into space within the next two to three years, MacKinnon stated. The goal is to obtain sainformites into orbit for telecommunications, mapping, geolocation and ininformigence gathering.

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The European Central Bank website page about the digital euro displayed on a smartphone in Brussels on Feb. 10, 2026. | Nicolas Tucat/AFP via Getty Images

While Europe revises its digital rulebook, POLITICO is convening its ninth annual AI & Tech Week in Brussels. This week, EU lawcreaters, regulators and tech leaders gathered to discuss social media safety and the global AI arms race.

The first day of the summit has just wrapped up, and our colleagues on the ground in Brussels have gathered three key takeaways:

1. Political leaders and regulators are still figuring out how to balance the benefits and risks of emerging tech, a challenge that has come into sharp focus with Anthropic’s powerful new Mythos model.

We’ve learned that Spain is pushing the European Commission for more information and coordination about Mythos. That could be discussed at the next meeting of EU AI authorities in June, and is on the radar of the network of global AI safety institutes.

POLITICO reported first on Monday that lawcreaters have notified the Commission the EU’s cybersecurity rules are “ill-equipped” to deal with this model. For U.S. Senator Gary Peters, a guest on stage in Brussels, Europe indeed has to be part of the solution on mitigating risks of superhacking AI.

2. Brussels is hitting limits in its powers to oversee AI in other areas as well, notably in AI and warfare. The European Commission’s AI adviser Juha Heikkilä stated it is difficult to have a conversation about the apply of AI in warfare at an EU level, given “national security competencies.” The EU executive has “very limited room for manoeuvre in that regard,” he added.

3. Nerves — and excitement — are building for tomorrow’s AI omnibus talks. As EU legislators consider their next relocates on laws for both AI and digital, we’ve also heard from companies that what’s important is “legal certainty.”

That could come — in part — after tomorrow, when nereceivediators meet again to discuss the bloc’s bill to reform AI rules. We’ve received insight into the landing zone for a decision on reforming the bloc’s AI law, and expect more to come on that through the rest of our AI & Tech Week.

But when it comes to reforming the EU’s data regulations, the landing zone for the digital omnibus bill is less clear and sees set to take much longer.

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