Canadian Heritage Committee on Nov. 27th, 2012

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Moore]

You're very short on time; you're actually out of time.

Now we're going into our five-minute rounds for questions and answers.

First up is Mr. Cash.

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the witnesses for coming back to our study. We recognize this as a sector which largely we're trying to understand. It's new and it's growing fast, so your input is really valuable.

The first thing is, what is the budget for the experimental stream?

[Nathalie Clermont]

It's $36 million this year. The first year it was $27 million. Last year it was $33 million. This year it's $36 million. We are trying to grow this envelope from year to year to help finance more projects.

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

Right, and how do you grow that?

[Sandra Collins]

The revenue sources for the Canada Media Fund come from the department, as well as contributions from cable and satellite providers. Up until now, we've benefited from that. The revenue source from the BDUs has increased year over year as their revenues have increased. We've been the beneficiaries of some growth on that side.

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

On both sides, the experimental and the conversion sides?

[Sandra Collins]

Well, the funding comes in toto, and then we allocate it. It's a board decision on how we allocate it among the funds, but the whole pot has grown over the last few years.

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

Okay.

I think it's worth underlining that the convergent pot is something we think is important, and it's doing some very good work, but what we're looking at right now is this pot.

When I hear about the number of applicants, and the number of applicants you can't fund, it really strikes me that you need greater capacity, which is another way of saying more money.

Do you feel that the demand is there, or are you comfortable with the amount of support you can give to the sector right now?

[Sandra Collins]

Since the experimental stream has launched, we have definitely seen more demand than we have been able to fund, up until now. There certainly is demand in this sector for financing from the Canada Media Fund.

[Nathalie Clermont]

For sure, not all projects that we receive merit financing. We don't have enough money to finance all worthwhile projects, but some are not at the level we expect. Even if we had $100 million, for example, we wouldn't be able to finance all the projects because they would not respond to the main criteria.

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

We've heard from a number of the bigger players in the sector, but hopefully we're also going to hear from some of the smaller operators. These are the people you mostly work with. Is that correct?

[Nathalie Clermont]

Which ones?

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

The smaller groups, or can you give us a sense of some of these companies? Are these independent operators or do they employ 15 people, or—

[Nathalie Clermont]

We don't have statistics on that, precisely. It's not something we specifically ask when they apply.

Probably most of them are smaller or medium-sized companies, but some are larger companies. Some are integrated in larger groups and they have their digital media related company. Some others in the gaming industry, Frima Studio in Quebec for example, have over 300 employees working full time on games. Some are their own IPs. Some are in service production; they do special effects or develop technology for other companies.

I think we are dealing with many different sizes of companies. The companies with 300 employees and more are probably fewer than the others because, as we said, the bigger companies are from outside Canada or are working in Canada but are not owned by Canadians. These are the bigger companies, but we deal with the bigger players, for sure.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Moore]

Thank you, Mr. Cash.

Thank you to our witnesses.

We're going to take all of the information that we hear on this study into account and consider all the information we've garnered. We do appreciate your being here.

I'm going to suspend for two minutes. We have our witnesses here for our next round, and we'll let them come to the table.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Moore]

Welcome back. Now we're moving into our study on the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in London. We're going to try this one more time. Last time, we were interrupted by votes.

I should mention once again that we're going to have votes again this evening, but the bells won't ring for those votes until 5:15 p.m. We've got plenty of time to hear from our witnesses.

From the Canadian Paralympic Committee, we have Henry Storgaard, chief executive officer and secretary general; and from Own the Podium, Anne Merklinger, chief executive officer.

Welcome, to you both, again. We will give you time for your opening remarks and then we'll go into a round of questions and answers.

We'll start with the Canadian Paralympic Committee.

[Henry Storgaard, Chief Executive Officer and Secretary General, Canadian Paralympic Committee]

Thank you.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

It is a great pleasure to be here today to talk about our wonderful paralympic team and the Paralympic Games in London.

We had an exceptional experience two years ago in Vancouver at our home games in 2010. That really provided the foundation for us to prepare for the London 2012 Paralympic Summer Games.

Recognizing the gap between Olympic and Paralympic funding at that time, the Government of Canada affirmed $5 million in the March 4, 2010 federal budget to the Canadian Paralympic Committee for five years. The two main purposes are to invest in our Canadian Paralympic team and high performance through to the Toronto 2015 Parapan Am Games and to increase participation of Canadians with a physical disability in sport and recreation.

CPC is unique among national multi-sport organizations in that we not only manage Canada's national team, but we also create a sport system for people with a physical disability. We undertake the recruitment of athletes and encourage people with physical disabilities to participate in sport and recreation.

That was kind of a set-up for who we are. Now let me tell you about London.

Two great things happened in London that will impact Canadians and our strategy moving forward. These two things were on the field of play and off the field of play. Both are critically important to our future. The London Paralympic Games marked a new era in Paralympic competition.

In London we saw more countries competing at the Paralympics than ever before. In fact, 164 countries took part, up from 146 in Beijing four years earlier. World records were broken at an incredible rate at the London Paralympic Games. No less than 251 world records were set. To give you a comparison, by contrast the London Olympic Games set 27 world records during their two weeks of competition.

Countries around the world are investing unprecedented resources in Paralympic sport and it is showing in the medal count.

We are very proud of our athletes’ accomplishments.

Canadian athletes earned a total of 31 medals at the London Paralympic Games: 7 gold, 15 silver, and 9 bronze. This is a fantastic performance given the ultra-competitive climate of the Paralympic sport. To put this into context for you, in Beijing in 2008, we earned 50 medals including 19 gold.

As a result we did not achieve our very ambitious target for London, which was to place in the top eight in gold medal count. Our final ranking was 20th in the gold medal count and we ranked 13th in the overall medal count, which is exactly the same as our Olympic counterparts.

We are grateful for the Government of Canada funding and we are judicious in our use of it. London showed us, though, that medals do indeed cost money. The leading nations invest significantly more in their Paralympic programs than Canada does. Countries like China, Korea, Russia, Ukraine, Spain, Britain were ahead of us in medal counts and they invest many times what we do.

As proud Canadians, we are determined to fight back, to continue to use every dollar and resource we have to propel Canada forward. We're determined to regain our top 10 status at the summer games. The winter games in Sochi are a little more than a year away. We are targeted to finish in the top three, the same as in Vancouver, and we will get there.

The world is changing in Paralympic sport and we need to change with it. Building podium potential athletes takes years of investment. This is a long-term commitment.

What this means for Canada, especially as a G-8 nation and as a country considered to be one of the best places in the world in which to live, is that we must continue to work on building a more robust parasport Paralympic system, so that we can once again become a Paralympic leading nation. We are investing in the critical areas of athlete recruitment, development, and retention as well as supporting our coaches through further education and training.

While our business is sport, we invest in people. There are 4.4 million Canadians with a physical disability. The other 30 million Canadians are inspired by our athletes' incredible performances. We invest in communities. We invest in health, in fitness, in diversity, accessibility, and inclusion. These are all landmarks of Canadian values, I believe.

To achieve this, CPC has made a commitment to match the Government of Canada's investment with private sector funds. I am pleased to report to you that we are approximately two years into our funding and ahead of schedule to match those dollars from the private sector.

We agree that all Canadians have the right to enjoy the benefits of physical activity. We know that sport not only builds great athletes, but it also builds great people. Here is our other challenge, and this is what I think is really important and what we must pay attention to: only 3% of Canadians with a physical disability are currently active in organized sport compared to 30% of the general population. We are driven to change this at the Canadian Paralympic Committee. It is unacceptable. It is not good for the health and well-being of our nation.

To encourage more people with a disability to get involved in sport, we launched, during the London Paralympic Games, on national television in Canada, a campaign called “It's more than sport”, so that more Canadians will experience first-hand the many benefits of an active lifestyle.

For Canada to have a podium full of medallists, we also have to have a playground full of kids. We need to ensure that children with a disability know that they, too, deserve the right to play and to be physically active. We've also invested in equipment and programming grants in communities across the country. We hold parasport festivals in every province and territory, where people can come and try out different Paralympic activities. Our thriving schools program sends our Canadian Paralympic athletes to classrooms and gymnasiums to motivate students. Our athletes have personally connected with over 300,000 young Canadians in the last couple of years under this new funding.

Our Paralympian stories are being heard. They are empowering, motivating, and encouraging to all Canadians. Our athletes give back constantly and generously by speaking and appearing at schools, communities, hospitals, and service clubs, to mention a few.

In London, if the first great advance in the Paralympic movement was on the field of play with a rising tide of athletic performances, the second giant leap was off the field of play. It was a leap in public awareness, social change, and empowerment. A record 2.7 million tickets were sold for the games in London, with most events and sessions selling out. This is unprecedented internationally.

It is regarded as the family games. Why? It's affordable, it's accessible, and it's inspirational. England's channel 4 broadcast the Paralympic Games live in prime time all day and all evening, for 15 hours each day. Thanks to the games a generation has been inspired, empowered, and changed. The perception of people with a disability has changed, especially in Britain. Post-game studies show the positive impact of London 2012.

Here in Canada we had unprecedented growth in our traditional media coverage and social media activity around London.

In fact, there are over one billion Canadian media impressions of the London 2012 Canadian Paralympic team which was more than three times the amount of our Vancouver coverage. However, in stark contrast to the Olympic Games broadcast, coverage in Canada of the Paralympic Games was limited to one hour late at night, and it was hard to find. I know because I received hundreds and hundreds of letters from Canadians who were, I might say, royally annoyed by that coverage.

Canadians are telling us that they want more Paralympic games on television and they want them more readily available online. I need your support today to ensure that every Canadian has the opportunity to watch Paralympic athletes and Paralympic games in the future, on television and on their computers. From playground to podium, we are working with our sports partners to build a stronger parasport system in Canada.

We recognize that systemic change is not going to happen overnight. Developing a robust sports system takes time and will require a long commitment from all partners, such as my colleague, Anne, at Own the Podium, Sport Canada, Canadian sports centres, national sports organizations, the government, and corporate Canada. The investment from the Government of Canada has paid huge dividends. Our athletes and coaches are grateful. We are asking for renewed and increased investments post-2015, and I guarantee that CPC will continue to match any government investment with corporate partner funding.

Our London 2012 results confirmed the importance of CPC's strategic objectives of raising awareness, enhancing recruitment, a sport system alignment for people with physical disabilities, and embedding Paralympic sport within Canadian high performance. Our objective is to produce a sustainable Paralympic podium performance.

This is what is required for Canada to regain and maintain a position among the top 10 nations in the summer Paralympic medal standings. Finding and nurturing that next generation of Paralympic champions is one of our most urgent tasks. It's one that we're embracing with enthusiasm and energy, with passion and pride. In doing so, our Paralympians are inspiring all Canadians to dream of excellence, to never give up, and to be their best.

Together we will succeed. We are Team Canada.

We are proud to be Team Canada, and we thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Moore]

Thank you, Mr. Storgaard.

Next we will hear from Anne Merklinger.

[Anne Merklinger, Chief Executive Officer, Own the Podium]

Thank you.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

On the heels of our discussions last week, I would like to once again acknowledge how important it is to Canada's athletes with a disability to know that the Government of Canada and you, as our elected leaders, care about how they perform. On behalf of Own the Podium, I cannot thank you enough.

Henry mentioned earlier, and allow me to also acknowledge, that the Government of Canada is the single largest contributor and investor in high-performance sport in Canada. It's only with your investment that Canada's athletes with a disability can continue to perform on the world stage.

I'd like to focus on three primary areas for my remarks: Canada's performance relative to the rest of the world; a closer look at the sports that were targeted by Own the Podium and how they performed; and the key findings and lessons learned for 2016 and beyond.

How did we do? Well, Henry already touched on this, and it's not as rosy a picture as it was when we had our discussions last week around our Olympic team's performance. Our objective going into the 2012 Paralympic Games was to finish in the top eight in gold medal count. We knew going into the games, based on our analysis of our performance in 2010 and 2011, that target would be pretty difficult, if not impossible, to attain.

In the end, we won seven gold medals in total and finished 20th overall, based on the gold medal count. That was down from our 19 gold medals in Beijing and our seventh place ranking in 2008. We won a total of 31 medals and finished 13th overall, as Henry mentioned. This, too, is down from the 50 medals we won in total in 2008 with a 10th place ranking in overall medals as a nation.

The trend line for Canada's performance in the summer Paralympic Games is clearly downward. Canada was an early leader in Paralympic sport from 1988 to 2004, very much due to the strong position our government and Canada took in terms of social policy. Since then, over the past eight years, many nations have surged and the competitive landscape is significantly different. Nations like Russia, Poland, Australia, Ukraine, and China have focused heavily on Paralympic sport and their results in London were terrific, with increases in the number of gold medals won ranging between 18 and six.

Next to South Africa, Canada suffered the biggest drop in gold medals won, down 12 from 2008. Again, for us, as the technical organization, we knew going into this particular set of games that we were in a tough position, but we know very well that we need to make some significant changes going forward.

Let's take a look at how some of the sports that were targeted by Own the Podium performed in London.

In the summer Paralympic environment we traditionally rely on two big sports to garner the majority of our medals: swimming and athletics. There are 950 medals available just between those two sports alone at the summer Paralympic Games, a fact that really reinforces the importance of those two sports to Canada's overall performance at the games.

Swimming did okay. They performed reasonably well, but athletics really struggled. They were down 10 medals in total from 2008 and captured only one gold medal as compared to the 10 gold medals that they won in Beijing.

OTP's investment strategy for Paralympic sports heading into London was focused entirely on gold medals. There were 11 sports targeted to win one or more gold medals, and five of those sports delivered. We definitely have some work to do with those sports that weren't successful in delivering gold medals.

I have some important observations to share with you that tell a story over and above the actual performance metrics. There were some terrific performances.

I mentioned swimming. They led the way, capturing four of Canada's seven gold medals and 16 of the 30 medals won for our entire nation. Summer Mortimer emerged as a new Canadian hero in her first Paralympic Games and an athlete with a huge career ahead of her in Paralympic sport.

Canada's team sports, similar to how we performed in London in the Olympic Games, did extremely well in the Paralympic Games, with the men's wheelchair basketball team winning the gold medal against an extremely tough field. The wheelchair rugby team won a silver medal, and much like the women's Olympic soccer bronze medal, it truly had a gold-medal lining.

Conversely, London served as a wake-up call for several targeted sports.

We knew going into the games that several sports would struggle in delivering medal performances. The stark reality of the level of competition, which Henry so accurately described, really emerged in Paralympic sport. This sent a powerful message to every leader involved in high-performance sport for athletes with disabilities in our country.

London 2012 established a new benchmark for every nation involved in Paralympic sport. It's a serious business. It's much more serious than it ever has been. With the depth of competition, the level of competition, the number of nations winning gold medals, the number of nations competing, the quality and number of full-time coaches involved in the top programs, and the level of investment being made by other top nations, the world is taking Paralympic sport much more seriously than it has in the past.

Finally, let's look at the key findings and lessons learned. What do we need to do differently going into 2016 and beyond?

First and foremost, we need to invest in more and better full-time coaches and technical leaders in Paralympic sports. Without great coaches and technical leaders, we can't produce podium potential athletes.

Second, and Henry mentioned this, we just do not have a deep enough talent pool of athletes. Without a broader base, we are really stretched to produce podium potential athletes in our country. We need to invest in a deliberate recruitment strategy. We simply need more athletes with disabilities at all levels of our high-performance system.

We can improve the integration of Olympic and Paralympic programs where relevant. This can assist in elevating the overall level of professionalism within some Paralympic sports. We need a strategy to recruit more severely disabled athletes, particularly in our two big sports: swimming and athletics. We will be working closely with Canadian Sport Centres, Canadian Sport Institutes, and all the provinces and territories to help develop a much stronger system of excellence in our country.

Canadian communities need Paralymlpic heroes. They inspire and motivate Canadians with disabilities to embrace an anything is possible approach to everything they do. They serve as role models for aspiring to excellence, and they instill a belief that we can win. Our Paralympic champions connect with Canadian families and reinforce the importance of sport and physical activity, healthy living, and being active for life.

Thank you once again, on behalf of all Canada's athletes and coaches, for the tremendous support you have provided in our quest to help more athletes win more medals in the Paralympic Games. Knowing that you care, believe in, and support these athletes in their pursuits means so much to them.

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Moore]

Thank you.

We will move to our question and answer time. First up, in a seven-minute round, is Mr. Calandra.

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you both for being here. First let me just say that obviously, we are extraordinarily proud of our athletes.

I just wanted to ask a question at the beginning of my round. I read an article after the games by one of the athletes who was disappointed when comparing the perceived treatment of both types of athletes. As I read that I felt disappointed for the athlete and how she felt, because these are extraordinary people who do incredible things. They accomplished some absolutely incredible performances not just in London, but even in the training leading up to the games.

Could you address that for me? I know you talked about funding issues. I just have a big concern that any of our athletes would have felt in some way like second-class athletes. How do we stop that from happening?

[Henry Storgaard]

I wish I knew the answer to that. It is true. I see it every day, our athletes see it all the time. The Olympic athletes come home, and professional athletes, and they get bonus money for competing. Watches and jewellery are tossed at them. Our athletes simply don't receive that. We don't have the resources, the wherewithal, to provide those kinds of gifts or luxuries and bonuses, if you will. There is a certain built-in double standard.

Part of our work is to ensure that there's equity and respect. We're working with our colleagues in all areas of sport to make people cognizant that there should be an equal approach to all athletes. We met only last week with the Canadian Olympic Committee to make sure when our athletes come home and they're feted in a parade, that all of our athletes are there and that all are treated the same.

We want to do that. We have to step up to the plate as much as anyone, but it's hard when you have one organization that is fairly well-to-do, and the other organization is struggling financially.

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

I hear you, and I can appreciate that. I don't want to focus too much on this, but I can't tell you how disappointed I was when I read that article. I know you were talking about funding, and coverage is obviously important because the more people get to see these athletes, the more they will understand how incredible what they're doing is.

How closely can you work with the Canadian Olympic Committee to make sure that all athletes are treated equally post-games?

It's very important to help build the next generation. When they see their heroes, these athletes, coming to the House of Commons, and they see them at schools and they see them at parades, that's what motivates a lot of people to get into it sometimes, when they're very young. How closely can you work with the Canadian Olympic Committee to make sure this happens in the future?

Through Own The Podium—I guess if you had the answer, you'd be doing it, I suppose—how do we get corporate Canada to do a better job of getting more funding for athletes so we can maybe provide incentives for the Paralympic athletes as well?

[Henry Storgaard]

Since I've taken this job, my elbows have certainly gotten a little bit sharper in trying to toss them around a little bit more to make sure there is equitable and respectful treatment of all of our athletes. In many cases that is true; they are treated very, very well and very equitably.

Post-games, we didn't get the kind of information we should have received with respect to the parade, with respect to a lot of information.

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

Do you know why? Where was that parade? Why didn't you get that information?

Maybe I will spend my seven minutes on this. Why didn't you get that information? That bothers me. I'm covered by immunity here, so maybe that's—