spacetoday.net: Auditor criticizes Canadian space program

Posted: Wed, Dec 4, 2002, 1:29 PM ET (1829 GMT)
A report published Tuesday by a government auditing agency concluded that there is a worsening imbalance between the plans of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and its budget. The report by the Office of the Auditor General found that the CSA cannot currently meet the expectations of the national space program with its current budget, and that the imbalance will only get worse over the next five years. Problems with the ISS are partially to blame, as well as NASA's withdrawal from an agreement to launch CSA's Radarsat 2 spacecraft for free. Both the space station and Radarsat programs date back to before the founding of the CSA in 1989, an issue that the report noted hinders future planning for the agency. The report recommended that the CSA and the Canadian government draft a new strategic plan for the agency that more closely matches programs with available resources. The CSA's annual budget is currently approximately C$300 million (US$190 million.)