Down to Earth from outer space

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/11/2024 (365 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In June 1983, Marc Garneau was at home leafing through the Ottawa Citizen when he stumbled upon an ad placed by the National Research Council of Canada whose headline read “Canadian Astronaut Program.”

It was a chance find that would alter the trajectory of his life.

At the time a naval officer and instructor, Garneau wondered whether he had the right stuff. He applied and, after navigating months of interviews and tests, was selected as one of Canada’s first six astronauts. The following year, he’d be the first of that group to go to space, capturing the imagination of Canadians young and old.

Garneau would be part of three off-world missions in his career as an astronaut before eventually touching down in the House of Commons in 2008, where he spent time as a Liberal MP, as well as Minister of both Transport and Foreign Affairs before retiring in 2023.

He’s chronicled both aspects of his career, as well as his early years and personal life, in his memoir A Most Extraordinary Ride: Space, Politics, and the Pursuit of the Canadian Dream, published in early October by McClelland & Stewart. Garneau lands in Winnipeg tomorrow to launch the book at McNally Robinson Booksellers’ Grant Park location, where he’ll be joined at 7 p.m. in conversation by Free Press editor Paul Samyn.

Writing a memoir allowed Garneau, now 75, to share aspects of his life beyond the halls of the House of Commons and the cockpit of the space shuttle.

“People know a lot about me as an astronaut, and they know a lot about me as a politician, but I wanted to sort of show them the complete person — that includes being a young, slightly rebellious kid who made a number of mistakes, some of them pretty stupid, partly driven by my sense of curiosity and adventure,” he explains from his home in Montreal prior to his Winnipeg appearance.

“Those were important learning experiences for me, and I wanted to share them — everybody has those moments in their life, and if you’re surrounded by people like parents and teachers, you can get back on track and learn something from your mistakes.”

Garneau’s book came out nearly 40 years to the day after his first mission into space as a payload specialist on shuttle mission STS-41-G on Oct. 5, 1984. He would return to space twice more, in 1996 and 2001, before taking an appointment at the Canadian Space Agency.

In his first foray into space, he felt the weight of the nation on his shoulders.

“I knew that in Canada, all eyes were on me that morning. While I was in space, I wanted to make Canadians proud, and I didn’t want to screw up, which might affect (NASA’s) judgment about whether they’d want to fly other Canadians. I’m very proud of the fact things went well.”

Eight other Canadians have followed Garneau beyond Earth’s orbit, undertaking missions as part of the space shuttle program (which was retired in 2011), as well as on the International Space Station.

“Most exciting these days is the fact that one of our Canadians, Jeremy Hanson, will get a chance to go on the Artemis II mission that will fly around the moon. Now that’s taking it to a new level,” Garneau says of the mission slated for September 2025.

Garneau sees challenges when it comes to Canada’s role in the changing landscape of space travel, including partnerships with the private sector.

“We were a pioneer in space. Back in the 1960s, we were the third country to build and to design and build a spacecraft (after the U.S. and the Soviet Union), we were pioneers in communication satellites to link all Canadians … we were pioneers in Earth observation using radar satellites, in developing robots, robotic arms,” he says. “I fervently hope Canada will continue to be an innovator, to actively spend on its space program — it’s allowed to innovate, to export some of the things we’ve made. But the competition is different now.”

The back half of A Most Extraordinary Ride details Garneau’s time in the House of Commons — first in 2008 as a Member of Parliament with the opposition Liberals under leader Stéphane Dion, and eventually as part of government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2015.

Garneau served as Minister of Transport from 2015-2021 before being moved to Foreign Affairs, where he lasted seven months before being dumped from the position after that year’s election, a move he describes as feeling like “a punch in the gut.”

Garneau’s relationship with Trudeau never seemed to warm up after he ran against the future Liberal leader to head the party in 2013, and the two had few face-to-face meetings.

Among the significant challenges Garneau faced in Transport were the fallout of the 2013 rail disaster in Lac-Mégantic, Que., the 2018 Humboldt Broncos bus crash in Saskatchewan, and plane crashes involving Canadians in Ethiopia and Iran, the latter of which was a result of the plane being shot down as it departed from Tehran.

He also spearheaded green initiatives when it came to transportation in Canada, including purchasing incentives for electric vehicles.

And while his time at Foreign Affairs was brief, it memorably included the September 2021 return of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, known as the two Michaels, following their 2018 detention and arrest in China.

“One of the sweetest moments was to be on the tarmac at the Calgary airport that morning, about five o’clock in the morning, when the plane landed and brought the two Michaels back after 1,019 days in prison.”

With an election looming, Garneau sees a similar fatigue with the current government among voters that brought down Stephen Harper and, before him, the Liberals under Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin.

“I would say this to Canadians: make sure when you decide which party to vote for, that you’re not going to just choose a party that complains about what’s wrong with the country, but that actually offers its own solutions,” he says of Progressive Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilevre.

“Mr. Poilievre has certainly pointed out a lot of things he doesn’t like, and that he’s going to change, but I’ve heard precious little about what he’s going to put in its place … the parties owe it to Canadians to let them know ahead of time what they plan to do, so Canadians have the opportunity to make an informed decision.”

Garneau’s closing words to the House of Commons as an MP stressed the need for members to respect their fellow colleagues, to “criticize by all means, but do it with respect and maybe even wit.”

A year later, it’s a message he sees as having largely fallen on deaf ears.

“It’s kind of sad — I know all of the MPs in the House of Commons are capable, but it seems they have to relearn that lesson about trying to conduct the business of the nation in a civilized manner,” he says.

“Criticize, but do it in a way that the Canadian public sees as a vigorous debate, as opposed to kids arguing in the sandbox … obviously my words didn’t stick very long in the minds of people.”

books@freepress.mb.ca

@bensigurdson