Pie Pork in space, or why the C-130Js are taking so long

When will we ever learn? Military spending should buy military equipment, not support risky regional development projects. Good grief.

The Harper government is considering a $45-million boost to a space-tourism project in Cape Breton as one of the regional benefits flowing from a major purchase of military planes, sources have told The Globe and Mail.

PlanetSpace, the firm that would benefit, has hired Fred Doucet, a senior Conservative official from the Mulroney era, to help seal the deal.

The project is related to the Canadian Forces' purchase of 17 Hercules C130J cargo planes from U.S.-based manufacturer Lockheed Martin Corp. To get the plane contract, Lockheed Martin had to promise to spend the equivalent of the $3.2-billion purchase price in the form of regional benefits [and not just for Quebec].

Sources said Lockheed Martin's proposed list of investments, which was submitted to Industry Canada and is awaiting cabinet approval, includes a promise to spend $45-million over six years on PlanetSpace's project.

According to its website, PlanetSpace wants to send 2,000 people into suborbital space flights [note the, er, emotive name of the vehicle--which "borrows the overall aerodynamic shape and main engine thrust chamber directly from the V2 rocket"] over five years, even though the company has not started accepting reservations for the $250,000 trips.

The company has estimated it will cost about $150-million to build a launch pad and rocket on its site in Nova Scotia. It's not clear how much money the company already has or where its funding comes from...

The $45-million investment in PlanetSpace would not be a federal subsidy, but it would be the direct result of federal approval of Lockheed Martin's mandatory plan to provide regional benefits from the aircraft sale...

Then there's this. Was not one Silver Dart enough for Nova Scotia? As Norman Spector puts it:

Say it ain’t so Steve (please!)

Update: Not. Who were the sources for the first Globe story?

Industry Minister Jim Prentice aborted plans yesterday to approve a project to blast tourists into space under Ottawa's regional development program.

Mr. Prentice stepped in after The Globe and Mail reported that PlanetSpace was in line for a $45-million share of the regional benefits flowing from a major purchase of military planes from U.S.-based manufacturer Lockheed Martin.

"There have been no discussions between Industry Minister Prentice or any member of his staff regarding Lockheed Martin investing $45-million of its own money in the so-called PlanetSpace space-tourism project in Cape Breton. Nor will there be any such discussions," Bill Rodgers, Mr. Prentice's director of communications, said in an e-mail yesterday...

Sources said the company had won initial approvals to spend $45-million over six years on PlanetSpace's project.

But Mr. Rodgers said the government will not play a part in the project under which tourists would pay $250,000 each for a short voyage into space.

"Space tourism does not qualify as an IRB [Industrial Regional Benefit] under the Government of Canada's procurement policies and Minister Prentice has absolutely no intention of changing that. Space tourism will be left to tourists," Mr. Rodgers said.

A spokesman for Lockheed Martin said it is up to Industry Canada to approve the company's regional-benefits plan. The spokesman added that Lockheed Martin will "not have a problem meetings its IRB obligations," under which the company must lock in 60 per cent of investments before the contract is signed...