Canadian Space Agency Gets Third New President in Less than a Year

WASHINGTON — The Canadian Space Agency is under new leadership for the third time in less than a year. Guy Bujold, an assistant deputy minister at Industry Canada, stepped in Jan. 1 as interim president, replacing Laurier Boisvert who announced his resignation around Christmas.

Boisvert
, the former president and chief executive officer of Telesat Canada, was named the space agency’s president in April. He replaced former astronaut Marc Garneau, who stepped down in November 2005, leaving the running of the $300 million-a-year agency to a rotation of several senior officials for more than a year, according to Canadian Space Agency spokesman Paul Engel.

Bujold
is taking over just as the Canadian Space Agency’s largest industrial partner, McDonald, Dettwiler and Associates of Richmond, British Columbia, is moving forward with the sale of its space hardware and geospatial business units to Minneapolis-based AlliantTechsystems for $1.33 billion