(Calgary) The federal government delivered on its budget promise to Canadian athletes preparing for the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games by announcing a $55 million investment on Monday.
Minister of Sport and Physical Activity Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages Randy Boissonnault and Treasury Board President Anita Anand said in Calgary that money for athletes, sport safety and removing barriers in sport is on the way.
The government had promised this money when it published the budget in April.
“I am completely focused on a new vision for sport in Canada with a sport system that looks like Canada,” said Minister Qualtrough.
PHOTO ADRIAN WYLD, CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Minister of Sport and Physical Activity Carla Qualtrough
“A system that invests in the athletes and organizations that work hard to represent Canada on the international stage, and that invests in the local organizations that enable more Canadians to participate in sport and lead more active lives.”
The largest investment was in the Athlete Assistance Program (AAP). High-performance athletes received $1,765 per month – $1,060 for a developing athlete – to pay their bills and cover training and competition costs that their national sports organizations were unable to afford.
The federal government will invest $35 million in the PAA over the next five years and $7 million per year thereafter, which represents an increase of approximately 25%.
That’s above the 18.8% requested by AthletesCAN, the Canadian Olympic Committee Athletes’ Commission and the Canadian Paralympic Committee Athletes’ Council prior to the federal budget.
About 1,900 athletes in 90 sports receive monthly checks.
“This increase in AAP funding is vital,” said bobsled pilot Cynthia Appiah. “The funding hasn’t changed in seven or eight years. It can mean the difference between being able to compete in that last competition that will help you qualify for the Olympics or not.”
Right now we are in a state of flux. The sports system is struggling to maintain and continue the high level of success that this country expects from us when we compete in these high-level competitions.
Cynthia Appiah, bobsleigh pilot
Athletes saw their AAP payment increase by $265 per month in 2017, or 18%, in the first increase since 2004.
The 2024 Olympic Games will begin on July 26 and end on August 11. They will be followed by the Paralympic Games, from August 28 to September 8.
The federal government will invest $16 million over the next two years in safe sport and $15 million to remove barriers to community sport programs.
The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) and the Canadian Paralympic Committee had requested $104 million in this year’s federal budget for 61 national sport organizations that COC president David Shoemaker said were “on the brink of crisis.”
That amount was not granted and Qualtrough acknowledged the discrepancy on Thursday.
“Those conversations are ongoing,” she said. “I expect that going forward, as we continue to get our own house in order within the Government of Canada and across the sport system, I’m really hopeful that we will continue to invest in the sport system.”