Facing an uncertain world, an increased prospect of war, and economic challenges, it’s easy to be pessimistic about Canada’s future.
Given our tendency to excessive humility and downplaying of our strengths, pessimism often comes easily in Canada.
And while pessimism can be beneficial if transmuted into realism and used to assess and adapt to reality, it can also turn into lethargy and a ‘nothing is possible’ attitude.
I often see this when I write about building up the Canadian military or Canada’s potential to become a powerful nation. Many seem to think Canada can’t do anything to alter our circumstances, and that we should just give up.
Yet, that attitude is not only far too pessimistic, it is deeply unrealistic.
Out of all the nations on Earth, Canada has among the best cases for being optimistic about the future.
Canada is among the top four richest countries in terms of natural resources.
We have one of the most well-educated populations on Earth.
Our life expectancy is near the top of the pack.
Our per capita GDP is in the top 20.
We are in the top 20 in terms of technological innovation.
While many of these rankings – life expectancy, per capita GDP, and technology level have slipped over the past decade, that can paradoxically be viewed positively, given that many of the policies implemented over the past decade are now being reversed. A ‘reversion to the mean’ should lift Canada higher in these rankings.
All of this is to say that even at what many feel is a low point for Canada, we still rank quite high. And since we are underutilizing our strengths, we have good reason to believe that – with the right attitude and set of policies – things will only go up from here.
And that brings us to NordSpace.
When we talk about the right attitude for Canada to escape from our current stagnation and live up to our true potential, we must look for exemplars of that attitude, Canadians who are showing the kind of strong and ambitious mindset that drives nations to new heights.
NordSpace – a Canadian company working to provide Canada with homegrown rocket-launch capability – is doing that both literally and figuratively. I’ve written about NordSpace previously – take a look at the article below if you haven’t read it yet:
NordSpace continues to make rapid advances, as they noted in a recent post:
“NordSpace is rapidly approaching its first launch! The historic launch from Canadian soil of our Taiga sub-orbital rocket, powered by our 3D printed Hadfield engines, will represent a massive leap forward for Canadian sovereignty in space and for assured access to it.
We’re completing final rehearsals and tests in Ontario at our manufacturing facility and engine test facility, as well as ground preparations in Newfoundland at the SLC-02 site of our spaceport – the Atlantic Spaceport Complex (ASX). Our portable launch system includes rapidly deployable launch towers and ground equipment, as well as a fully mobile Mission Control.
Long days and even longer nights, relentless testing, fast problem solving, and our blood, sweat and tears have allowed us to come so close to launch so quickly. NordSpace is also rapidly advancing several projects including:
Our first satellite, Terra Nova, launching in 2026
Our in-house satellite AIT facility, capable of shipping one satellite per month to start
Our orbital engine and turbo pumps for our Tundra rocket
Spaceport construction, commercial launch approvals, and significant regulatory work
Several ground breaking R&D projects in advanced manufacturing of composites and metal 3D printed components
Plans to quadruple the size of our rocket factory by 2027At NordSpace, we fundamentally believe the most successful version of our future as a company and as a nation is a truly Canadian end-to-end space missions capability. This is exactly what we’re building, and we thank you for your support.”
Make it happen, vs hope for the best
For a long time, Canada has coasted. We assumed the U.S. would remain a 100% reliable ally, we assumed we could eschew military strength in favour of meetings and summits, and we assumed that the era of great power conflict and potential large-scale warfare was over.
Those assumptions let us adopt a ‘hope for the best’ attitude, where hoping substituted for action.
That attitude was naive at the best of times, and these aren’t the best of times.
A new mindset is needed, a mindset where we make things happen and reshape our world through relentless ambition. NordSpace is a living embodiment of that mindset. They identified a capability gap – Canada’s lack of homegrown rocket launch capacity – and have set about to change it, rather than waiting for ‘someone else’ to take care of it.
Keep in mind that it would be far more lucrative for people in the Canadian rocket launch industry to work for companies in other nations where government support is much higher (NordSpace notes that Canada is the only G7 nation without homegrown rocket-launch capability or a government-backed plan to build that capability), and where the space industry is already entrenched. Starting from scratch is not easy, but NordSpace is doing it.
Imagine if that mindset – dreaming big and working relentlessly to will those dreams into reality – became the pervasive mindset in this country. Imagine what we could accomplish with that mindset, coupled with our highly intelligent population, abundant natural resources, vast landmass, and strong alliances.
When I talk about Canada’s potential being unlimited, that’s what I’m referring to: The latent strength that our country possesses.
Think of how many nations are constrained by a lack of resources, a lack of land, and a lack of allies. Think of the nations where huge portions of the population are unable to access adequate education. Those countries have so many hurdles to overcome just to get to a fraction of where Canada already is.
This isn’t to downplay our challenges, but to put them in perspective. Our biggest problems are self-created, the result of a mindset that no longer serves us well. We can change that mindset, and in so doing, we can change the trajectory of our nation.
That starts with recognizing and supporting the Canadians who are already embodying the mindset that will lift Canada to the stars and beyond. Canadians like NordSpace CEO Rahul Goel and his team, as well as Canadian companies like Maritime Launch, Xanadu, Roshel, and others, who are – each in their way – seeking to uplift our country and ensure we are not left behind in a rapidly changing world.
Our focus shapes our world
If we look for reasons to be pessimistic, we will find them. But the opposite is also true. If we focus on Canadian companies like NordSpace, pessimism becomes impossible, and optimism wins out. Our focus shapes our world, and now is the moment for Canada to focus on a vision of an optimistic, powerful, and prosperous future.
Spencer Fernando
Image – YouTube (NordSpace)
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