I said two days ago, at our last meeting, that in Canada we have mostly volunteer coaches. Primarily when young people are coming up and they join a sport for the first time, it's a volunteer who is coaching them, such as a parent in the organization. We do have training programs for coaches. The volunteer coach is something we have to treasure in Canada.
In the United States, many times it's more professional, and the coaches are paid at least a stipend, whereas in Canada that doesn't happen very often.
You have to have a well-trained and certified volunteer coach. Then you need equipment, and you need a facility. If you have those three things, you can usually develop a pretty good program without a lot of high registration fees. Registration fees are definitely a hurdle to get over to participate at a high level, or just to stay in shape, particularly for children from less prosperous homes.
If you have those three things—the volunteer coach, the facilities, and the equipment—then the registration fees can stay low, and you can broaden that net at the bottom. What all of you have kind of touched on is that it is kind of this inverted pyramid. You want to get that base of people participating as large as possible. Then you focus on elite development as they move up that pyramid.
Having that base as wide as possible is also something the federal, provincial, and municipal governments should be supporting, because that is what's going to save us money in health care costs later on. Have people all start early, and try to open the door to everyone to involve as many as possible. Focus not just on elite development but actually have that bottom of the pyramid as broad as possible.
Am I accurate in saying that you are all in support of that model?
Maybe we'll start with Mr. MacAdam.