Today's global defence landscape is changing rapidly, both on Earth and in Space, driven by climate change, new geopolitical dynamics, emerging technologies, and rising security threats to our national sovereignty. Defending our country and our strategic geographies such as the Arctic is now more important than ever before. To keep pace with this change, governments around the world are increasingly prioritizing the role space plays in their defence infrastructure.The global space industry has also changed dramatically since the turn of the century, becoming more dynamic, innovative and increasingly impactful. Traditionally, defence projects in space were directed and developed exclusively by government and defence entities. The pace of technological innovation was incremental, oftentimes bogged down by procurement processes, cost overruns, and a fundamental lack of urgency, not seen since the initial space race to put humans on the moon. Today, a new space race is emerging with commercial companies developing, launching and advancing space-based assets and capabilities both for commercial and defence purposes.Over the past several years, we have seen generational leaps in technological capabilities with many calling this sea change the transition from “Old Space” to “New Space.” This New Space economy is a highly strategic, exponentially growing global industry, and countries are investing billions of dollars every year into their domestic commercial space companies and capabilities to ensure a leading role in this high-stakes global space race.Here in Canada, the space sector is a strong driver of the Canadian economy, with commercial satellite communications being a cornerstone of the industry. The overall space sector contributes over $2.5 billion to Canada's GDP, with leading Canadian companies investing billions of dollars every year to develop state-of-the-art space technologies. Particularly, when it comes to satellite communications, Canada has a clear global competitive advantage, namely through Canadian space companies like Telesat, MDA and others.As Canada looks toward NORAD modernization and delivering the most advanced technology to its armed forces, it is important to acknowledge that the United States, the European Union and other countries around the world, including members of the Five Eyes community, have moved beyond the legacy approach of exclusively relying on dedicated defense systems to meet accelerating threat vectors. Instead, these governments are working closely with the private sector from R&D through commercialization, leveraging significant commercial investments made in cutting-edge capabilities and are integrating these space-based assets into their defence systems.A prime example is the interest the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has shown in Telesat Lightspeed, Telesat's revolutionary Low Earth Orbit (LEO) global satellite communications network that leverages state-of-the-art technologies to revolutionize Internet and 5G connectivity throughout Canada and everywhere in the world, including the Arctic.Telesat has been actively engaged with the U.S. DoD on its Telesat Lightspeed constellation, securing contracts with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Space Development Agency (SDA), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to harness the resiliency and information superiority achieved through proliferated LEO networks. The DoD is expected to launch a Request for Proposal (RFP) to acquire commercial services from commercial LEO satcom providers later this year. This RFP has an estimated value of up to US$875 million.Telesat Lightspeed is the largest space program in Canadian history, supporting over 1,500 jobs across Canada and delivering billions of dollars in investment. The Government of Canada has been a tremendous partner and backer of Telesat Lightspeed given the integral role it will play in bridging the digital divide, creating the jobs of the future, and ensuring Canada's global leadership in the new space economy.With today's heightened security threats, the Department of National Defence should accelerate NORAD modernization, increase our NATO impact, and ensure Canada's women and men in uniform have access to the most advanced, resilient, assured connectivity, earth observation and situational awareness. Canada should leverage the substantial commercial investments undertaken by Telesat, and the broader Canadian space supply chain, to bolster our national defence capabilities and preserve our sovereignty, while safeguarding and growing Canada's highly innovative, world-class industrial competencies.Stephen Hampton joined Telesat in 2018 and is responsible for global government affairs and public policy.