A day after the MDA deal to sell its space division to ATK we learn that the Canadian Space Agency president Laurier Boisvert resigned in December and was replaced on January 1st by Guy Bujold, an assistant deputy minister at Industry Canada.
The Canadian Press is reporting that Mr. Boisvert may have left because of the pending MDA deal.
"He was officially replaced by Bujold this past Jan. 1, but the resignation was communicated to CSA staff on Dec. 20.There has been speculation Boisvert may have quit over the planned sale of MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd.,a Vancouver-based company known as MDA, to Alliant Techsystems (NYSE:ATK) of Minneapolis."
Even if this was the case which in itself begs for more questions to be asked, why are we only learning of this now?
I can only surmise that the implications of the pending MDA sale weighed heavily on Mr. Boisvert as he contemplated resigning.
It was less than 2 months ago that Maxime Bernier, Minister of Foreign Affairs announced that the Government of Canada had issued an operating licence for RADARSAT-2, a C$217 million satellite financed by the Canadian public. Commenting on the occasion Jim Prentice, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for the Canadian Space Agency said;
“The space sector now has a clear road map to follow, particularly those companies developing imaging satellites,” said Mr. Prentice. “RADARSAT-2 sends a clear signal to the world that Canada intends to lead in this space activity.”
And ironically the same press release contained the following statement.
"RADARSAT-2 is the product of a unique public-private partnership between the Canadian Space Agency and MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA). Once launched, the satellite will be owned by MDA and operated by MDA Geospatial Services Inc. RADARSAT-2 will ensure the continuity of data services for government departments, the scientific community and a growing number of commercial clients."
You can reference the original master agreement between the Canadian Space Agency, MDA and Orbital Imaging here.
Related Story: Deal includes key satellite, Globe and Mail
UPDATE 1:00 PM Pacific:
I received this from an anonymous source:
"Within MDA we got a company-wide email before Christmas, I think something like the 15th or 18th of the month, stating that Boivert was resigning. The email said that one reason quoted for the resignation was government bureaucracy. I highly doubt the sale of MDA had anything to do with it because it was only concluded on the morning of the announcement, having only started at the beginning of November. I doubt Boivert knew anything about the sale prior to a phone call on Tuesday afternoon that informed him of the intent to sell. The MDA board apparently only decided that morning."
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Larry Boisvert had been charged with the thankless job of cleaning up a CSA brought to the edge by the Liberal cronyism and corruption, under Evans (clueless globetrotter and francophobe), Garneau (empty figurehead), and then Jha (ambitious bagman/spy). The sale of MDA is akin to pulling the carpet under Larry's feet, giving plenty of ammo to the (liberal) mandarins he was asked to bring into line or fire. In a nutshell, MDA is showing the CSA for what it is, an empty shell. Whether or not the sales goes through, the CSA's future is in doubt.