OTTAWA, April 21 (Reuters) - Canada on Tuesday said it planned to permit commercial space launches, citing the need to capitalize on a lucrative market and build up industry as well as cutting its reliance on the United States.
Government officials unveiled draft legislation that would allow Ottawa to regulate and oversee space launches conducted from Canadian territory, as well as re-entry. The bill is also designed to support investment and infrastructure development.
Canada is the only G7 nation that does not have space launch capabilities and usually depends on the United States, the transport ministry said in a statement.
"(This move) would drive billions in investments, create good-paying jobs ... reduce our economy's reliance on the United States, and support a commercial space launch and re-entry industry that could be worth C$40 billion ($29.3 billion)," it said.
Last month Canada announced a C$200 million investment in a planned spaceport in the Atlantic province of Nova Scotia and said it would join a NATO initiative designed to establish a network of space launch capabilities for member nations.
Canada, suffering from the effect of U.S. trade tariffs, is seeking to develop new markets and alliances.
That said, the two neighbors have a long history of space cooperation. Earlier this month Royal Canadian Air Force Colonel Jeremy Hansen became the first non-U.S. citizen to fly on a lunar mission.
Canada also built the Canadarm robotic arms which were initially installed on some of the U.S. space shuttles and then the International Space Station.
($1 = 1.3643 Canadian dollars)
Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Chris Reese
