Thank you.
I would also like to thank the witnesses for their presentations. This is the second meeting of this committee that I have attended.
In my youth, I was involved in sports, and your testimony really hit home with me.
I am thinking of a marathon runner who is also a former work colleague. I talked about her at the last meeting. Her sport cost her her job. Last week, I learned that she had to make a choice. She chose to continue with her sport and to become an example. She is a young woman in her thirties. From a young age, funding had often been a problem for her. She represented Canada and had to sell tickets to raise money. She did it because she believed in it. What can we do in cases like that? I did not know how to help her. We could not give her money directly.
We have talked a great deal about Olympic teams, but the fun of sport should not be overlooked. I completely agree about the importance of fun in sport because that is what I do with my boys. The are not involved in a specific sport, but we go mountain biking together and it is fun. We also go snowshoeing. What is important to me is that they are active and have fun. I do those activities with them for fun.
At a higher level of performance, as in the case of my former colleague, competition becomes a challenge. The goal is to get to the Olympics. I wish her success in that.
My question is for all of you. With regard to high-level sport, what specifically can we do to help these young women continue in their sport?