Carney says Canada is ‘highly, highly reliant’ on foreign tech — what Starlink’s Ukraine slowdown means for your money

It isn’t the first time that Carney spoke out against the Elon Musk-controlled internet company. In September, Carney told The New York Times: “we will diversify away from [Starlink], no question.”

Carney’s comments are more than a foreign-policy talking point. Canadians may be tied to Starlink as a subscriber, an investor or a taxpayer funding a homegrown rival — and each exposure carries a separate risk.

Why did SpaceX slow Starlink in Ukraine — and is it over?

Since Oct. 14, Ukrainian officials have accused SpaceX of undermining the country’s defence by imposing speed limits on Starshield, the military-grade division of the firm. On Oct. 20, The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk himself directed these limits — that same day, he stated on X that Starshield is controlled by the U.S. government.

On Oct. 24, as Ukraine’s Defence Ministry acknowledged that Starshield connection speeds had been restored, Musk confirmed on X that SpaceX had throttled Starlink in Ukraine. To be clear, both Starlink and Starshield services in Ukraine were throttled for about 10 days in October 2026, severely impacting Ukrainian air defense and drone interception operations.

Musk alleged that Ukraine’s military had violated Starlink’s terms of service by using the civilian network for offensive drone strikes, claiming that SpaceX had closed “that loophole.” He also maintained that Starshield is a separate system — controlled by Washington.

Kyiv rejects that account. Serhii Beskrestnov, a defence technology adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said civilian Starlink terminals in his country were already limited to speeds of 70 to 90 km/h and didn’t work in Russia. In his view, that made the use Musk described improbable.

A group of Democratic lawmakers led by Sens. Adam Schiff and Peter Welch and Rep. Gregory Meeks gave Musk until Oct. 31 to answer five questions about the disruptions.

As North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer said in an interview published Oct. 22 in Politico: “There are certain things the government has to do that can’t be so dependent on others. And fighting wars is one of those things.”

For Carney, he confirmed during his trip to Istanbul, that the Starlink slowdown had “real consequences, human consequences, direct casualties,” adding that he does not want Canada “to be caught in a situation where we are reliant on one provider that may change their view.”

Should Canadian Starlink subscribers worry about losing service?

As of now, no. Starlink said that it had more than 500,000 Canadian customers as of July 2025, many of whom live in rural and northern areas with few broadband choices. There have been no announcements on any restrictions on household subscriptions.

However, Ukraine’s experience shows that service terms can be fickle. Provincial support has shifted with politics, too. Ontario, which had previously agreed to a CA$100-million Starlink program for up to 15,000 underserved homes and businesses, officially cancelling the contract in March 2025 amid a tariff dispute with the U.S.

And Telesat, the federally backed alternative that’s been in business for almost 60 years, won’t compete for those customers directly. Instead, it’s positioning its Lightspeed network as a carriers’ carrier, meaning that it will be available to governments, businesses and internet providers rather than households. Eventually, Canadians could get access to the Telesat network, but only after the service is offered through retail internet providers.

What does the slowdown mean for SpaceX stock in your investment portfolio?

If you hold SpaceX in a Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) or Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) or any investment account, what happens to Starlink affects your returns. SpaceX priced its initial public offering (IPO) at US$135 a share, and the stock opened at US$150 when it began trading on June 12. It eventually climbed as high as US$225.64 in the following weeks before falling as low as US$104.83 over the summer. Shares closed at US$146.90 on Oct. 26.

Starlink still earns more than a third of the company’s profit: the Connectivity segment, which is mainly Starlink, generated about 36% of operating income in the third quarter. But since SpaceX merged with xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence (AI) company, xAI has become its biggest source of revenue, bringing in more than half (51.9%) of third-quarter sales.

Strong earnings gave the stock a brief lift. Shares jumped about 7.5% in after-hours trading on Oct. 20 after SpaceX reported third-quarter revenue up 161%, beating Wall Street estimates. By Oct. 23, the gain had disappeared. Meanwhile, the U.S. lawmakers’ letter argued that Musk’s alleged control over a foreign military’s communications would require disclosure of “elevated risks for corporate governance, geopolitical exposure” to investors.

Rival stocks show how fast sentiment can swing. Shares of Eutelsat, the French satellite operator that owns the OneWeb network, surged 23% on Oct. 14, their biggest one-day gain in 16 months. Luxembourg-based rival SES rose 2.6%.

You may also own SpaceX without realizing it. Various workplace pension funds are investors of Space, including the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, which holds a stake in SpaceX worth nearly US$8.7 billion as of June 30. If it still holds the same 50.7 million shares, that stake was worth about US$7.4 billion at the Oct. 26 close.

On SpaceX’s Oct. 20 earnings call, Musk said SpaceX and Tesla had each formed special committees of independent directors to consider a merger, though no terms have been agreed and there’s no guarantee of a deal. A merger could concentrate the risk further for anyone who holds both stocks.