Canadian Heritage Committee on Nov. 20th, 2012

[Marcel Aubut]

If it's a million dollars for us, it's going to go to game preparation to make sure that, as was said, no stone is left unturned.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Moore]

Thank you, Mr. Simms.

Mr. Armstrong.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and I want to thank you all for your presentations.

Congratulations on the performance of our athletes at the Olympics. I think your preparation paid off in London. I thought it was a national celebration despite some disappointments such as the women's soccer team.

To pick up on what Mr. Simms said about finding athletes, as a coach myself, I've coached at national championships and have played in a couple of them. If you can play and you can perform and you have potential, you'll be found. Carl English of Newfoundland is a great example of a tremendous story. You'll be found if you can play. I don't have a lot of concerns about talent identification. I think that will take care of itself, particularly in the age of technology and the Internet. You can look on YouTube and think, “Wow, look at this kid.” At age 14, this kid is jumping over the high jump bar at a certain level. You can see it. You'll find them. Coaches will put them out there.

We don't think you're going to be a high jumper or a pole vaulter or anything, but if you could, we would find you.

I believe the key to developing this deeper pool of athletes is to develop better educated, better trained coaches who are going to work at the ground level when children are younger.

Am I on the right track there? Would you agree with that statement?

[Marcel Aubut]

By the way, I forgot to tell Mr. Young earlier, that the Canadian Olympic Committee, under pressure from Caroline Assalian, created the first coaches award system.

As you know, the athletes were getting money when they won medals. Nobody talked about the coaches before, and we just started to distribute those cheques to the coaches for the first time about a week ago at the session in Montreal. We saw tears. As coaches they were not expecting that at any point in their lives. It's so normal. If the athletes are rewarded, knowing the crucial part the coach plays, the coach should get something.

It was the beginning of a long list of things we want to do for coaches.

As Anne said earlier, that's so important, first of all, to find the money to keep them, and to be able to steal some from other countries, absolutely. We have to do that. I did that in the past for hockey players for many years. We have to value the job.

Do you have anything you want to add, Caroline? That's something close to your heart. Go ahead.

[Caroline Assalian]

No, you were great.

[Marcel Aubut]

I did great? Okay, thank you.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

My point was, is the key to developing a deeper pool of talent to start younger? To do that you're going to have to have the actual coaches on the ground in places like Newfoundland and Labrador all the way to northwest B.C.

[Anne Merklinger]

I think coaching is certainly a gap that we have yet to fully close in Canada, at all levels of the system. I talked about four years out and we needed eight years out. There's no doubt about it: we need more and better coaches at the five- to eight-year part of the pathway.

Frankly, in order for us to continue to develop generation after generation of podium potential athletes, we need much more physically literate young boys and girls. Our physical literacy, the amount of quality physical activity and education that our young people are afforded in school is really falling behind what other nations are doing. We need a strong base in school at a very young age where we're really improving the level of physical literacy of Canadian boys and girls. That's the future 15 to 25 years out.

With more physically literate children, we would have a jump in terms of enabling them to get on the high-performance athlete pathway sooner than they might otherwise.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

I want to expand on what you just said.

What initiatives are you promoting or supporting through Own the Podium, not just in funding the athletes, but in sport science, innovation in sports, coaching, and technical leadership?

[Anne Merklinger]

Let's talk about coaching and technical leadership first. With each of the targeted national sport organizations with which we partner, we work with them to make sure they have the best possible coaches and high-performance directors. Without them, we're not prepared to go forward with an investment.

They need to have great coaches throughout all levels of the pathway, or we're not prepared to partner with them. That's first and foremost. If they don't have them, we're at the table to try to figure out how they can find them. How do we recruit coaches—maybe beg, borrow, or steal them from other countries—who can come in and bring our programs up to the level they need to be?

Your other question was around sport science, research, and innovation. Let me share with you a snapshot of where we are relative to Vancouver. We had $2 million identified solely for research and innovation, what we called the top secret program for Vancouver, for 19 sport programs. We now have $1 million for 40 sport programs, which spans winter and summer programs.

We've really fallen behind relative to what other nations are investing in innovation and research. We think there's a reasonable potential fit with some private sector partners, who may be able to work with us in doing the research, the innovation. But that is a big gap for Canadian high-performance sport.

[Marcel Aubut]

I want to come back to what Mr. Simms was mentioning.

Right now we are starting a mission about convincing provinces and territories to get more involved in high-performance sport. There might be some answers there to what you are talking about.

We feel the same way. There is a plan right now that we—the president of OTP, me, and the secretary general—go around the country to see every premier and their ministers of education and sports, depending on the culture in each province, to convince them they have to come on board with us. It has to be Canadian. Right now it's only federal, which I think is a great beginning, but it has to be improved. What about involving every province in this country to do something to find those great prospects? It's easier for them to identify prospects because they are on site. Also, they could work with us to invest in improving high performance in the whole country.

If we achieve that, I think this country is going to change totally as far as performing and delivering the goods in future games.

I just wanted to make that side comment, because it's something we are planning to do in a very short period of time.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Moore]

Thank you, Mr. Armstrong.

Now we're moving into five-minute rounds, beginning with Mr. Nantel.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to thank the witnesses for being here today. It is a real pleasure to meet you. We saw you before you left for the Olympic Games, and we are seeing you coming back with a good haul. Obviously, I congratulate you on that.

Earlier, Mr. Aubut called to mind the magnificent image that our athletes represent for our young people, be it during the Paralympic Games or the Olympic Games. It's good. That is where we can see how relevant having sport in the Canadian Heritage portfolio is. Ultimately, these patriotic images are the best legacy sport provides. These images are very important.

Don't you think we could hope for much greater support from the population? I'm not an expert in sports, like my colleague Matthew Dubé, but I did some calculations. I added up the medals. If I understand correctly, we won almost 50, so 49 medals in total for the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games.

Overall, how much money comes from the federal government? How many millions of dollars are devoted to supporting athletes?

[Marcel Aubut]

As I explained, there are a number of programs. Sixty-four million dollars will go to the Own the Podium program, and $200 million is set aside for the rest. There are also programs that distribute amounts of money to the athletes each month or every 15 days. I don't know those numbers off the top of my head. The director of Sport Canada, who is sitting behind me, would be in a better position to answer the question. All I can tell you is that something is missing.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher, QC]

I agree with you.

[Marcel Aubut]

What's clear is there is a big lack of money over there.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher, QC]

I asked the question because when these sporting and Olympic events are held, that's when all Canadians are the most equal and proud to be Canadian. I hope we will be able to speak to the minister, Mr. Moore. Actually, I hope we have him here before December 4 to talk about the Supplementary Estimates (B), but also to talk to him about something that often bothers and concerns me.

How much would the average Canadian be willing to pay to win more Olympic medals? I am doing a rough calculation. If you tell me that you get $60 million a year, that's $240 million in total for each Olympic Games. If I divide that amount by the population, it doesn't cost each Canadian much to be so proud. Do you understand what I'm saying?

[Marcel Aubut]

What you're saying is very interesting.

The image is great. It's a very good picture of what's going on. That means we have to find a way to get the money from Canadians. One way it is going to be easier for Canadians to participate would be through the foundation. We created the Canadian Olympic Foundation. The foundation is going to go to individual Canadians through the website and other ways where people can give $5 for the athletes they prefer.

There are two ways. There is all that, and my colleague is going to talk about it, as far as getting to individual Canadians is concerned, but before going to that level, we need to line up corporate Canada. The government kept the level of contribution when they were cutting everything else. We owe a lot to the Prime Minister of Canada and the government, but that doesn't resolve the needs, which go higher and higher, and the gap goes higher and higher as far as what the athlete needs.

I will tell you what concerns me the most. Right now it is to stay where we are when we perform internationally. It's going to be an incredible achievement already. Why? As you just said, most other countries in the world are saying the same thing, that it's great when athletes win a medal for the visibility of the country. It's like Formula 1. Why do you get a Formula 1 race? Often it's not for the race, but because everybody's going to look at you—

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher, QC]

It's even more patriotic when we talk about sporting events.

[Marcel Aubut]

That's why we have to find a way to get what's out there. That's why we are distributing the $100 million for the next four years, because with our team we really line up sport with corporate Canada. That is the first step.

Then I'm going to go back to the government and say, “This is the private sector contribution. What else can you do?” That will be the first part.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher, QC]

Even better....

[Marcel Aubut]

Second, it's the process that we want to involve.

Third, it's the individuals.

I would say the fourth one would be to find a way to get recurrent revenue. With recurrent revenue, there are projects in place right now that could be very successful through, for instance, a national amateur sports network, where you would pay a basic fee and you could learn about the sport. If you don't see it, you will never appreciate it. Then you discover the athletes, and you don't discover the athletes only for two weeks every two years, but all the time. That makes a big difference. It could be a recurrent revenue. We are subjected too much to a government that has to cut everything to sponsor the way they feel. They decide to invest or not, or the economy becomes very bad and nobody invests. We are related too much to the uncertainty. We have to find a way to stabilize the revenue because the needs of the athletes don't go with the economy. They always go up and continue—

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher, QC]

So, you might say that you have a vision.

[Marcel Aubut]

I love that question for that reason. Let's go about getting everybody to put a dollar in.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Moore]

Thank you, Mr. Nantel.

Now we go to Mr. Gill.