Recently in Canadian Space Agency Watch Category

Retired General Walter Natynczyk Tasked to Lead the Canadian Space Agency [Watch], SpaceRef Canada

"Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced today that General (Retired) Walter John Natynczyk, former Chief of the Defence Staff, is to become the President of the Canadian Space Agency, effective August 6, 2013"

Marc's note: I've included a 30 minute interview from Canada's version of C-SPAN, CPAC, from a show called Beyond Politics. It gives you an idea who Walter Natynczyk is.

Canada Commits to the International Space Station Beyond 2015, SpaceRef Canada

"The government announced today that Canada intends to renew its commitment to the International Space Station(ISS) beyond 2015. Minister of Industry Christian Paradis made the announcement in Quebec City where the ISS Heads of Agency meeting is currently taking place. The news was expected but it took some time for Canada to commit, making it the last of the other participating nations to do so."

In other news from Canada this week:

Canadian Space Agency Budget Estimates Before Budget Cuts Released, SpaceRef Canada

"According to Treasury Board of Canada Main Estimates for 2012-13 released yesterday the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) is estimated to see its budget reduced from $424.6 million from 2011-12 to $363.2 million representing a 16.9% decrease in its budget. The CSA budget was already scheduled to be reduced to $371.1 million, a decrease of 14.4% according to the CSA Report on Plans and Priorities 2011-12 estimates released last year."

Canadian Space Agency Moves Forward with Executing Next Space Plan, SpaceRef Canada

"The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) will see it's budget peak this year at an all time high of $424.6 million then drop 34% over the following two years according to estimates released yesterday in their annual Report on Plans and Priorities. At the same the agency has completed an overhaul and restructuring of their Program Activity Architecture which in effect begins the execution of the agency's next Long Term Space Plan. While the CSA will in effect be executing the next Long Term Space Plan, the government has not seen fit to release an actual Long Term Space Plan document. This is somewhat surprising in the context that the very stakeholders who contributed to the plan want to see an official strategy document published."

NASA - The Frontier is Everywhere Video Goes Viral, But Why?, Marc Boucher, editor, SpaceRef Canada

"Let's remember Gower is Canadian. Why isn't he ranting about the Canadian Space Agency? Ah well, NASA does have much higher profile. Gower says "their media sucks", well ok, sometimes it does, and then he says "None of their brilliant scientists appear to know how to connect with the social media crowd", and this unfortunately is where I disagree with Gower. NASA actually does, in my opinion, do a great job with the social media crowd. In fact among space or science agencies around the world they lead the way. NASA has embraced social media using blogs, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, USTREAM, foursquare, myspace, flickr and Gowalla. They have Twitter accounts for senior management, astronauts and all their missions. They connect! Their scientists use social media to connect as well. But remember they have a job to do and it takes time to be social, but none the less, they do connect."

Marc's note: I know how much you love NASA Watch, well guess what? Starting today for Canadians and those who want to know more about the Canadian Space Agency we're launching a new section on SpaceRef Canada called Canadian Space Agency Watch. Here's the first article. Comments are open on SpaceRef Canada and you can use your NASA Watch account to sign in and comment. Also, got a tip for us on something we should cover? Send your tip to tips@spaceref.com. And lastly you can follow SpaceRef Canada on Twitter at this address: http://twitter.com/CanadaInSpace

Who Knew? Canadian Space Agency Space Exploration Advisory Committee Meets, SpaceRef Canada

"This week in Montreal the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) Space Exploration Advisory Committee (SEAC) is holding one of its periodic meetings and you could have attended the open session except for the fact that no one knew about the meeting other than the CSA and SEAC members. Why is that?"