In Canada, and with regard to sport, it's a bit unique in that we have had a ton of positive collaboration between the federal government and the provinces. The downside is that most of the collaboration has come for the purpose of elite sport in pursuing medals.
You could argue that our obsession with winning at all costs led us to embracing Own The Podium, which funnels money into just a small number of athletes, and creates a very much “win at all costs” attitude. However, the good part of that is we already have these existing relationships between the federal government and the provinces, when it comes to sport.
If we can do this, in terms of competing internationally and developing long-term athlete development, and things like that, surely we can dedicate the same kind of co-operation and collaboration, collaborative federalism, toward protecting athletes at all levels in this country.