Consumers who have grown rapidly to rely on the SpaceX Satellite Network may be willing to follow the lawsuit.
Starlink has flew over 7,000 satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), serving around 5 million subscribers, and Canada is the largest market outside the US.
The popular service, offering to remote zones that do not reach traditional internet services, raises a dilemma for patriotic Canadians who want to boycott American merchandise over widespread rage over Trump and his closest advisor, Mask.
Yukon-based writer Louise Dumine posted a rally on her Facebook page to avoid American businesses. Everything except Starlink.
Dumayne lives near Klondike Gold Rush Town of Dawson City, and said that a reliable internet service from Starlink has increased her husband’s income by 40%, about 445 kilometres (277 miles) by car from the Arctic Circle. “I feel like I’m at a conflict,” she said on a video call from a wooden cabin (via Starlink). Starlink is “really robust” and works despite temperatures below minus 40C (minus 40F). Consumers around the world could be facing similar disputes as Trump threatens tariffs in more countries after the US imposed a 25% tariff on most Canadian and Mexican imports on March 4th.
Ford isn’t the only Canadian politician targeting SpaceX. British Columbia Premier David Ebby said his state is no longer considering a deal with Starlink, which he is working on. Northwest Territories Prime Minister RJ Simpson said on Tuesday that his government is also considering alternatives.
Businessman Gord Fry has firsthand experience of repulsion. Fry, a company that installs equipment in the two-hour area at Toronto By Car, the owner of Muskoka Starlink, is suffering online and in-person abuse due to the van’s name.
He turned off public comments on Facebook ads “to stop political rants,” Frye said. “The only thing that has held back Starlink on faster progress through Canada is the negative public opinion that Elon Musk shot down the mouth and certainly caused by Trump.”
Still, for all the rage, Starlink has a semi-monopoly on the reliable and affordable Leo Internet. It leaves almost a choice for those who want to distance themselves from Musk.
“What are the alternatives? Quebec’s Minister of Cybersecurity and Digital Technology, Gilberanger, said:
Arctic lifeline
Home to many remote communities craving decent and affordable internet, Canada is in many ways perfect for SpaceX-owned networks. Starlink had around 533,000 users in the country as of January.
Musk herself has a connection with Canada. His mother was born in Saskatchewan and attended Queens University in Ontario before transferring to the University of Pennsylvania.
However, after more than 350,000 Canadians signed a petition to revoke SpaceX’s chief executive’s citizenship, he posted on social media platform X that “Canada is not a real country” before deleting the comment. Meanwhile, Trump is planning to infuriate Canadians and use “economic forces” to make Canada the “51st state.”
Musk’s electric car company Tesla Inc. looks vulnerable to blowback as sales are falling in Europe, Australia and China, but Starlink’s dominant position will help protect the space network from political backlash.
Nunavut, an Arctic territory about 20% larger than Alaska, does not have roads connecting 25 communities, and the fiber optic lines do not link to the internet. That lack of connectivity has been a hindrance to development in northern Canada despite growing economic and military interests due to climate change.
Read more: Climate change is so bad, even the Arctic is burning
Starlink saw a significant and rapid adoption at Nunavut, according to data from Ookla LLC, the owner of the Internet Speed Test website. The Starlink Nunavut Facebook group has over 7,000 members. This represents about a fifth of the vast territorial population, but not all of the group members necessarily live there.
“It appears that every other house has a Star Link when you go for a walk,” said Andrew Arleke, a resident of Mitimatalik, known in English as Pond Inlet, an Inuit community that is almost eight hours in the air from Ottawa.
Neighbors take Starlink antennas with them on camping and hunting trips in the tundra, which makes them safer, he said. Previously, I used a limited range of radio.
Madeleine Redfern, former mayor of the territorial capital IQAluit, supported Arreak’s support. For years, she paid $1,000 ($695) a month to keep her home office connected, but suffered from data caps, overuse fees and lower service.
Since switching to Starlink, she’s been able to get closer to $130 and do things like streaming video. “I’m desperate to get it,” she said of the mask network.
Starlink’s website shows Iqaluit as “sold out.”
Tony Fortunato, an engineer who sets up the Starlink terminal for Nunavut’s housing agency, said the boycott Talk of Boycotts was not persuading locals. “They’re like this: ‘It doesn’t affect me. There’s no choice. What are we going to do? Nothing?”
The Canadian government has announced a project to improve broadband on NunaVut, including almost $27 million from SSI Micro Ltd.
Canada options
Those who hug a Canadian Starlink rival will have to wait.
A Northwestel spokesman said the company mainly provides fiber optic internet to its headquarters in Yukon and the Northwest region. It is also partnered with Leo Constellation, owned by Eutelsat Communications SACA in France, and Telesat, Canada, to provide satellite broadband.
Ottawa-based Telesat today uses satellites from the Earth layer at much higher elevations than the round trip in Musk.
Telesat is building a $4.6 billion Leo fleet of 198 satellites called Lightspeed, known as Ontario maker MDA Space Ltd, which allows better competition with Starlink, but the constellations are delayed and the service is expected to begin in 2027.
Telesat’s model is wholesale, but CEO Dan Goldberg told Bloomberg in an email that “direct products to consumers can support them over time.”
Another provider, Xplore Inc., announced its first connection last September with plans to create fiber links for more than 35,000 Ontario homes and businesses, part of its plans to make more than 400,000 connections nationwide by 2027.
Former Iqaluit Mayor Redfern is Chief Operating Officer of Canarctic Inuit Networks Inc. and wants to connect the undersea textile line between the capital of Nunavut and the towns of Newfoundland and Labrador.
SpaceX and Xplore did not reply to requests for comment.
Quebec and Ontario
Before the trade war, Canadian politicians had promised to diverge for large sums to connect rural components to Starlink.
Ontario announced a $100 million partnership last November, providing Starlink to 15,000 homes and businesses in rural and northern regions. “We will not award contracts to those who enable and encourage economic attacks on our provinces and our nation,” the Ontario Prime Minister said at a press conference.
Promising to make high-speed internet available to all residents, Quebec has around 10,000 Starlink equipment and a deal worth $138 million, paid for discounts. The program expired in June and a decision will be made on whether to renew some grants in May, Bélanger said.
“Maybe $138 million isn’t big enough,” Musk is worried about repulsion,” he said. “Canada needs to think about solutions, Canada’s solutions.”
For now, Yukon-based author Doumain worries that Canadian Starlink users could even become pawns in the trade war if US-Canada relations worsen.
“What if Elon Musk decides on Tit-for-Tat on StarLink and doubles the price?” she said. “At this point we have to pay for it.”
