High-level athletes require more support, committee says
OTTAWA — The federal government should do more to encourage private-sector investment in sport if it wants Canada to remain a leading medal contender in Olympic Winter Games, the House of Commons heritage committee says.
In a new report on Canada’s preparation for the 2014 Sochi Games, the committee shared testimony from witnesses across the country who spoke of the need for more funding to “keep the momentum going.” The committee recommends the government maintain its current funding strategy while also finding a way to encourage corporate sponsorship of highlevel athletes.
“If the federal government can give strong consideration to how we can have the corporate community come more to give us support financially ... that would be very useful,” Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton CEO Bob Wilson told the committee.
The federal government is the most significant funder of sports in Canada, supporting athletes through Sport Canada programs that finance sport facilities and provide financial assistance to athletes. Specific to winter sport, Minister of State for Sport Bal Gosal told the committee that the government has invested more than $153 million over the last four years, an increase of $25 million over money spent in the four years leading up the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games.
Despite this, private sector investment is “critical to our success today, tomorrow and well into the future,” said Marcel Aubut, president of the Canadian Olympic Committee.
Stephen Norris, vice-president of sport at WinSport, the winter sport institute in Calgary, suggested that the government could “make it more interesting for a corporation to be involved in sports” by creating tax incentives for businesses providing support for high-performance athletes.
The government also needs to do a better job of “celebrating our athletes and celebrating the success of the investments the government makes” to encourage corporate sponsorship, witnesses said.
The committee further recommended that government — and other sponsors, including provinces and private-sector businesses — focus on “the long-term development of Canadian athletes” by promoting involvement of youth in sport.
“Today we don’t have a real strong pool of that next generation of athletes. That would be a concern which I think the provinces and the corporate sector could help us with,” said Dale Henwood, president of the Canadian Sport Institute.
He said investments are needed in coaches and facilities for athletes competing below the elite level.