Canadian Heritage Committee on Nov. 28th, 2013

[Duncan Fulton]

There's certainly a group of companies now, and you see them. It involves Bell, Air Canada, RBC, and BMW. There are a number that are supportive through the sport system.

For companies that don't currently invest in sport, it's likely because there's not a natural link to their own brand or company, so it's not a natural place to invest. It would be hard to compel someone to invest if it didn't make any rational sense.

That being said, there are lots of companies that have nothing to do with sport that invest in it and use it to tie to their brand. It's the same point as I made to Mr. Dion. The more that we can raise the profile of the different sports and the success of the athletes, and the more Canadians and private-sector companies' customers recognize those athletes and those sports, the more private sector money will flow to those sports and those athletes.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gord Brown]

Thank you very much.

We're going to move to Monsieur Lapointe

You have five minutes.

[François Lapointe, NDP, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Fraser, it is always very useful for us to have you here. Thank you for joining us.

In the previous round of questions, you said that you “hoped”—and I am troubled by the verb “to hope”—that the infrastructure would be moved. I understand you to mean that, in a sense, you want French-language logistic and linguistic capabilities to be moved from Canada to Sochi, much like the support for francophones that was set up in Afghanistan for the Royal 22^nd Regiment.

[Graham Fraser]

That was the metaphor I used.

[François Lapointe, NDP, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

It was an analogy.

[Graham Fraser]

I used it a little loosely.

[François Lapointe, NDP, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

The verb “to hope” troubles me. Now that we are only a few weeks away from the Olympic Games, should Quebec and French-speaking athletes not be expecting rather than hoping? Should they not have guarantees and assurances that our francophone expertise will be available to them in Sochi?

[Graham Fraser]

Let me be clear. I have no indication that such will not be the case. We have received no complaints. My predecessor Dyane Adam wrote quite a harsh report about some sport associations. Since that report, I feel that there has been a lot of improvement. In the past, there were some disputes about the lack of coaches capable of serving francophone athletes, but I heard nothing about that in Vancouver, for example, and I assume that it will be the case again in Sochi.

But, in reply to Mr. Dion, I said that I thought that a recommendation to make sure that it is the case would be a good idea. Sometimes, with changes of leadership and direction in a sport association, the situation can change.

[François Lapointe, NDP, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

If I understand you correctly, Mr. Fraser, it is something we should keep an eye on.

[Graham Fraser]

I think so.

[François Lapointe, NDP, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

It would also be interesting to look at the level of bilingualism among francophone athletes who just gave up, unless the services have improved so much that a francophone who speaks little English now receives adequate services. In my opinion, that is a relevant question.

[Graham Fraser]

Exactly. As I said in my statement, I have always been impressed with the number of athletes, anglophone and francophone alike, who seem to be bilingual.

[François Lapointe, NDP, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

They tend to be bilingual.

Mr. MacQuarrie, let's talk about the investigation process that your service has set up. Suppose an athlete is suspected of doping through the Report Doping program; what processes are put in place when you get that information? What mechanisms are there to protect an athlete who is caught in a possible conflict by reporting abuse, doping or a poor dope-testing policy? How sure can we be that anonymity will be guaranteed and the athlete will be protected?

[Doug MacQuarrie]

We have created and maintain an investigation system. A manager of intelligence is available. We receive information on a confidential and anonymous basis with respect to any matters pertaining to doping, whether it's the use, distribution, or sale and trafficking of prohibited substances.

Under the rules of the World Anti-Doping Code, there are eight types of anti-doping rule violations. One of them is what we call “presence”. That is when we get a human sample and we detect through an analytical process a substance in that sample, blood or urine. There are seven other types of anti-doping rule violation that deal with possession, trafficking, tampering, administration, evading, and so on.

[François Lapointe, NDP, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

That's all very interesting, but could you be more specific? What happens when an athlete has to tell your services that he or she thinks there has been doping on their team? How does it work?

[Doug MacQuarrie]

Thank you for the clarification.

We would receive the information and evaluate the nature of the tip. We would determine whether there are similar tips that we've received, or other sources of information, and we would check with respect to the data sets that we try to maintain around the testing, the actual work that we're doing in the area where the individual reports suspicion of doping.

From there, we may change our testing behaviours. We may allocate more resources. We may try to collect additional information to substantiate the nature of the tip. In these non-analytical forms, ultimately in order to prove an anti-doping rule violation, we have to assert and advance a case. It's very similar to the criminal system, but it's done before an arbitrator. We collect and maintain the evidence chain and then advance a case to prove a violation.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gord Brown]

Thank you.

We're going to move on to Mr. Richards, for five minutes.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Wild Rose, AB]

Thanks, Mr. Chair.

I'll start with Mr. MacQuarrie, or the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, whichever one of you would like to answer.

I'd like to get an idea about how Canada's anti-doping program compares with similar programs in the rest of the world. It sounds as though we have a very stringent set of criteria and all the athletes are being closely monitored. Obviously, you want to see your athletes compete on a level playing field and I'm sure there are varying levels of anti-doping programs in different countries. I'm wanting to see where we sit. Is our bar up at the top, or are we somewhere in the middle of the pack? And what are we doing to encourage other countries to follow our example? What about those that are maybe not up to the same standard?

[Jeremy Luke]

In Canada, we certainly see ourselves as a world leader in the fight against doping in sport. We have a long history in this, dating back to the situation involving Ben Johnson and the Dubin inquiry. We recently celebrated our 20th anniversary. Many other countries are newer to this issue and have established their agencies over the past 10 years or so. We have a long history, which gives us a lot of experience.

We've made significant attempts to try to help other countries build their anti-doping organizations, to ensure a level playing field throughout the world. In areas such as the Caribbean, Africa, and even Sochi, we've done consulting work, and we'll continue to do so. With respect to our anti-doping work being cutting-edge, one of our concerns has to do with the way we share information with law-enforcement. Organizations such as the U.K. Anti-Doping Agency and the Australian Anti-Doping Agency have much more sophisticated methods, which makes their programs more effective. This is of concern to us.

My last point is in response to your question on what we're doing in the global fight against doping in sport. We work very actively with the World Anti-Doping Agency and have strongly encouraged them in their regulatory regime to ensure that other countries have sophisticated programs as well.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Wild Rose, AB]

Obviously, all Canadians are proud to know that our athletes are clean. We're trying to compete honestly and fairly, and we're still able to be very successful. That's something we all take pride in here in Canada.

When our athletes go to Sochi, are they competing on a level playing field? Are there other nations that you feel aren't meeting that bar? I know that's a tough question to answer. Maybe it's not even a fair question, but I wanted your opinion on it.

[Jeremy Luke]

I think it's an appropriate question for sure. We attended the World Conference on Doping in Sport in South Africa earlier this month, which brought together all countries and international sport federations to talk about the issue of doping and what different countries are doing. We had an opportunity to make an intervention at that conference. One of the key points of that intervention was that we want to see the World Anti-Doping Agency exercise its authority to ensure that all countries are implementing the World Anti-Doping Code and have credible anti-doping programs. That's because of concerns in other countries where it's thought that those programs are perhaps not as appropriate as they need to be.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gord Brown]

Thank you very much. On behalf of the committee, I'd like to thank our witnesses for their contributions to our study.

The meeting is adjourned.