Minister of Industry François-Philippe Champagne is calling an offer from Elon Musk to provide Canadians with cheap internet access “nonsense” after the Tesla owner said he could get the job done at less than half the cost of the federal government’s plan.
The Trudeau government announced a $2.14 billion deal with the Ottawa-based communication company Telesat on Friday, which will allow the company to boost internet reception in remote areas of Canada by using its low-orbit satellite system.
“As the largest space program ever conceived and built in Canada, this agreement with Telesat Lightspeed will have a significant impact on the growing network of Canadian suppliers and talent, offering critical support to the sector as it continues to flourish,” said Champagne in a statement.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters that the deal was “fundamentally about making sure that Canadians and people in more distant communities, in smaller northern communities and in remote parts of the world can be connected to the transformation and the progress that the world is seeing at increasingly destabilizing speeds.”
According to the Trudeau government, the new deal will result in “2,000 jobs across the country through Telesat and its supply chain.”
However, Conservative MP Michael Barrett called upon Musk to give his opinion on the issue as to whether it could be done cheaper in the private sector.
“Hey @elonmusk — how much would it cost to provide @Starlink to every Canadian household that doesn’t have high speed?” wrote Barrett in an X post on Saturday. “If this $2.14 BILLION plan is the panacea of expanding access, competition, and service — where is the interest from private investors and banks?”
Musk promptly responded that Starlink could provide the same service at half the cost.
“Less than half that amount,” he wrote.
Once Champagne became aware of their exchange, he denounced it as being “typical Poilievre ‘nonsense,’” referring to Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.
“They’d prefer giving money to foreign billionaires instead of supporting our industry and our workers. This loan will help build a world-class Canadian made satellite network and supports thousands of jobs in Quebec! Now that’s common sense!” wrote Champagne on X.
Several X users were quick to point out that Musk is a Canadian citizen, not a foreigner. While born in South Africa, he holds dual citizenship with Canada.
“A Canadian is a Canadian, no? A Canadian is not a foreigner,” one user responded below Champagne’s pinned post.
According to Musk, as of last year “more than 400k active Canadian customers” were using Starlink, accounting for roughly 3% of Canadian households.
The federal and Ontario governments penned a similar deal to the Telesat contact last summer, awarding $215 million to Rogers Communications to expand its fibre-optic network to rural communities across the province. However, Tristan Hopper, a journalist with the National Post later estimated that had the province used Starlink satellites to connect rural users with the internet as opposed to fiber-optic cables, the cost would have been less than $50 million.