Ontario's payout to Elon Musk over cancelled Starlink contract to remain secret

President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with Elon Musk in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, May 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Ontario’s payout to Elon Musk’s SpaceX over a cancelled Starlink contract will remain a secret after the two sides agreed to a confidential settlement, The Canadian Press has learned.

The province said the kill fee for what was set to be a $100-million deal is “significantly less than the contract value,” and the amount paid out was part of a negotiated settlement.

When asked about the kill fee earlier this week, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he didn’t know the amount but pledged to confirm it. His office then said the amount could not be publicly released.

Ford stands by his choice to kill the deal before it was implemented.

“I believe that was the right decision, protecting Canadians, not supporting a U.S.-led owner that was pretty aggressive towards Canada,” he said on Tuesday.

SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment.

Days after U.S. President Donald Trump won the 2024 election, Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma announced the deal with SpaceX to deliver high-speed internet to 15,000 households and businesses in northern and rural Ontario.

Ford posted about the deal on X, the social media platform owned by Musk, who responded with “cool.”

Musk went to great lengths to support Trump’s presidential bid. Two senior Ontario government sources said in November 2024 the Starlink deal was, in part, seen as a positive move designed to appease Trump’s inner circle. At the time, Ford supported Trump.

Ford was later caught on a hot mic at a campaign event for a snap Ontario election he called for February 2025, saying he was initially happy Trump won the presidential election before souring on him due to his threats to annex Canada through “economic” force.

As Trump’s threats against Canada ratcheted up that month, Ford threatened to cancel the Starlink deal.

The premier said he believed Ontario would not have to pay anything to get out of it.

“(Trump) broke a deal, he broke a trade deal and I think we have a very, very good case if it goes to court,” Ford said at the time. “So even in that case, I don’t care if there’s a fine or whatever, but I think we’re going to win it.”

The sources, who were granted anonymity in order to speak freely about the deal, said the Starlink system was the only one that could be operational within months of signing the deal – and had proven its technology after a trial run in Pikangikum First Nation in 2020.

SpaceX won the competitive bid, the province said at the time, and planned to be operational by June 2025.

The program – dubbed ONSAT, which stands for Ontario Satellite Internet – would have covered equipment and installation costs, but not monthly user fees. The deal would also guarantee internet coverage priority over the average paying Starlink customer.

Remote First Nations in northern Ontario were set to benefit the most from the deal.

First Nations and mining exploration companies across northern Ontario are now using Starlink on their own dime to connect to the grid. The province is also laying fibre-optic cable throughout remote First Nations in northern Ontario and vast parts of rural Ontario.

The cable has already been laid or strung up in many parts around the Ring of Fire, including Neskantaga First Nation and Webequie First Nation, though internet is not yet operational.

Both the Starlink deal and the broadband project were part of the province’s $4-billion plan to deliver high-speed internet to every corner of Ontario.

Ford’s office said they are “are identifying a suitable alternative partner.”

Once Trump brought Musk closer into his orbit after inauguration, the billionaire who has Canadian citizenship through his Regina-born mother began mimicking the president’s verbal attacks on Canada.

“Canada is not a real country,” Musk wrote on X in February 2025. (Musk and Trump have had a rocky relationship over the last year).

After Trump launched his tariff war against Canada in March 2025, Ford responded with a series of retaliatory measures.

The premier pulled U.S. booze off Liquor Control Board of Ontario shelves, placed a surcharge on power exported to Michigan, Minnesota and New York for one day – and pulled the Starlink deal.

The secrecy over the Starlink cancellation fee bothers Liberal parliamentary Leader John Fraser. Taxpayers deserve to know how much they’ve given to Musk’s company, he said.

“We should have been looking at a Canadian company like Telesat that was doing the same work and that would have protected jobs here in Ontario, but the premier wasn’t thinking about it at the time,” he said.

“It blew up in his face and now we’re all paying the price. Just tell us how much we gave over to this billionaire.”

Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said he’s dismayed about taxpayer dollars going “straight into the pockets of an American billionaire.”

“In the wake of this cancellation, it’s critical that we continue working to deliver high-speed internet to rural and remote communities,” he said. 

“It’s time for the premier to make good on his promise and work with community leaders and the federal government to bring high-speed internet to every community in the province.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 13, 2026.