CANSO – The federal government has signed a 10-year, $200-million agreement with Maritime Launch Services to establish a dedicated launch facility at Spaceport Nova Scotia near Canso.
The Department of National Defence will lease a launch pad at the site to support the operational needs of the Canadian Armed Forces and the wider federal government, according to announcements Monday from both Ottawa and the Canso area company.
The deal, retroactive to April 1, 2025, will see Maritime Launch Services receive $20 million annually, and create upwards of 60 local jobs by the end of 2027, company officials confirmed. The first $20 million cash payment is due before March 31, 2026, followed by $5-million payments at the end of each fiscal quarter thereafter.
National Defence Minister David McGuinty said the investment is part of Canada’s effort to build sovereign access to space amid growing global competition and security concerns.
“Today, we build on Canada’s proud legacy as a nation of innovators, explorers, and builders,” McGuinty said during an announcement event at the David Florida Laboratory in Ottawa on Monday. “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 agreement establishes a dedicated launch pad within the planned commercial spaceport near Canso, a project Maritime Launch Services has been developing for nearly a decade.
Under the arrangement, the company will maintain the facility and continue building out the broader spaceport, including additional launch pads, a launch control centre and payload integration and testing infrastructure.
Maritime Launch Services president and chief executive officer Stephen Matier said in a company news release the agreement positions the Nova Scotia site as a cornerstone of Canada’s emerging sovereign launch program.
“Located on Canada’s Atlantic coast, Spaceport Nova Scotia offers safe over-ocean launch corridors and access to highly sought-after orbital inclinations,” Matier said. “By enabling reliable launch access from Canadian soil, Spaceport Nova Scotia will help unlock the growth of the Canadian space sector.”
Regarding local job creation, in an email to The Journal on Tuesday, Matier confirmed, “We’ll be at 30 by the end of this year the double again in 2027.”
According to the federal government, the lease agreement requires Maritime Launch Services to spend at least 90 per cent of the funds received through the deal in Canada, directing an estimated $180 million toward domestic companies and workers.
The announcement is part of a broader federal initiative to develop sovereign launch capability outlined in Canada’s defence industrial strategy and the 2025 federal budget. Officials say the program is intended to ensure Canada can launch satellites and other payloads from domestic facilities during geopolitical disruptions or limited access to foreign launch providers.
As part of Monday’s announcement, the federal government also confirmed funding for several Canadian companies working to develop domestic launch vehicles through the defence department’s Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security program. Those projects are intended to help Canada achieve an initial light-lift launch capability by 2028.
In an interview with The Journal following the announcement, MLS vice-president of corporate affairs Sarah McLean said the agreement represents a major commercial milestone for the company, describing it as an “anchor tenancy.”
Under the agreement, she said, the defence department will operate from a dedicated launch pad within the spaceport complex while Maritime Launch Services continues building out the broader facility.
The announcement caps a series of operational advances for Maritime Launch Services over the past several months.
Last November, the company conducted a suborbital flight from Spaceport Nova Scotia, marking the first commercial launch activity from the Canso site and only the second demonstration test in two years.
The launch, carried out in partnership with Dutch firm T-Minus Engineering under Transport Canada’s launch-demonstration framework, was described by Matier at the time as “a complete mission success.”
In the weeks that followed, Export Development Canada announced a $10-million senior credit facility to support infrastructure build-out at the site. Shortly after, MDA Space Ltd. invested $10 million in equity and committed to an operational role at the spaceport.
In January, Maritime Launch Services announced the hiring of Melissa Quinn as vice-president of spaceport operations, with more than a decade of international experience in launch licensing, infrastructure development and commercial space operations, including serving as head of spaceport at Spaceport Cornwall in the United Kingdom.
Referring to the new deal with the federal defence department this week, Matier said in the company release, “This agreement represents a long-term investment in Canadian infrastructure, Canadian workers, and Canadian communities, including the creation of high-quality jobs in rural regions such as the Municipality of the District of Guysborough, home to Spaceport Nova Scotia.”
In an email to The Journal, Guysborough Tracadie MLA Greg Morrow called the announcement “incredibly exciting,” noting that “an announcement of this magnitude from a partner like the Government of Canada shows tangible confidence in this project. This is a significant investment in not only Canso and Guysborough-Tracadie, but in all of Nova Scotia as well.”
Initial operational capability for the defence launch facility is expected by the end of 2026.
