Canadian Astronaut Standing Ready for Political Launch

Marc Garneau

Chris Hadfield isn't the only Canadian astronaut expected to blast off on one last adventure this fall.

Former astronaut and current Liberal MP for Westmount—Ville-Marie Marc Garneau (who also acts as the Liberal Party house leader) is expected to throw his hat into the ring for his party's leadership just as soon as the currently acknowledged front runner in the race (the youthful and so far undeclared Liberal MP Justin Trudeau) decides if wants the job now or after a few more years of political seasoning.

Garneau may not have that option.

The 63 year old retired military officer, electrical engineer, ninth Chancellor of Carleton University and former head of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) is likely at the tail end of a stubborn and fitful political career, complete with poor timing (Garneau first ran for office during the sponsorship scandal) false starts and at least one attempted political retirement.

After being considered in 2011, Garneau was passed over in favor of outgoing interim leader Bob Rae. But as per the August 15th, 2012 Toronto Star article "Marc Garneau ready to enter Liberal leadership race," he's evidently still ready to jump back into the political fray, just as soon as he can gather up a “dream team” of political operatives to work with him.

Of course, this suggests that volunteers aren't yet rushing his doorstep to work on the campaign.

Still, we wish him luck, if only because (as per my July 4th, 2011 post "Ground Control to Marc Garneau") he once advocated a doubling of the CSA budget and an all-Canadian robotic mission to Mars to "stimulate the country's space industry during uncertain times for North American space programs."

Now if only he'd fill in a few of the details.