Thank you. The pressure is on.
Good morning. I'm Alex Baumann, the executive director of the Road to Excellence program, and I'm here on behalf of the Canadian Olympic Committee.
I would like to begin by thanking you for inviting us to the prebudget consultations of the Standing Committee on Finance.
I'm here to ask you to support the allocation of $30 million annually in the next budget in support of the Road to Excellence program, designed to help our Summer Olympians compete with and win against the best in the world.
Less than one dollar per Canadian a year will create role models who will inspire activity in our youth and put them in recreation centres instead of malls. Less than one dollar a year will unite this nation as we share in the pride of our athletes' achievements from coast to coast. Less than one dollar a year will help create heroes who are a metaphor for excellence in all dimensions of Canadian life.
I would like to share some of my insights as a former Canadian Summer Olympics gold medallist.
During my swimming career, Canada's team was strong and competitive with the rest of the world, but Canada has failed to hold its position in relation to other countries. In recent years, every other G8 nation has significantly increased its investment in sport because they recognize the social and health benefits of that investment. Sadly, Canada's support for sport has not kept pace with these nations and we lag far behind in funding high-performance programs that allow our kids to reach their maximum potential.
I was proud to represent Canada during my competitive career, as are athletes today. Canadian athletes want to be the best in the world, and there is a renewed focus on excellence in this country.
When I decided to return to Canada last year after helping build Australia's exceptional high-performance sports system, I made a commitment to Canadian summer athletes that I would try to give them every opportunity to succeed on the international stage.
But I can't do it all myself, and neither can our athletes. As you all know, the Canadian government and the Canadian Olympic Committee work hand in hand to help Canada's Olympic athletes perform at the international level.
This partnership has to be a priority for Canada through the Road to Excellence program. The program is unique and consistent with the government's objective of implementing shared responsibility structures. It relies on a partnership between the Canadian Olympic Committee, the Canadian Paralympic Committee, private sector partners, and the federal government to deliver high-performance summer sports programming and Olympic podium results in an accountability framework that provides a demonstrable return on investment for Canadian taxpayers.
Road to Excellence is a program that will give Canada's most talented athletes leading-edge support services, technology, equipment, science, and coaching in both daily and competitive environments to do this country proud and continue to inspire Canadians to achieve excellence, pride, and health in sport.
I'd also like the members of this committee to consider the fact that every Canadian on an Olympic podium means more community enrolment in sport. Let me give you an example. When the Canadian women's hockey team won gold in Salt Lake City in 2002, community enrolment in girls' hockey increased by 12% the following year. Kyle Shufelt's gold medal in Athens in 2004 inspired explosive growth in men's gymnastics throughout Canada.
Our athletes want to achieve podium results, and I want to see more young people committed to sport across this country. I want those who have the talent and the dreams I had to get the support they need and deserve to climb the podium for their country after years of hard work and sacrifice.
Increased community involvement in sport is consistent with the government's agenda of promoting sport through the sport tax credit and ParticipACTION. It is consistent with recent recommendations of the health committee, the Public Health Agency, and Health Canada to remedy the obesity crisis Canada is facing. In fact, last year the health committee presented a report to Parliament and stated that one study estimated that “obesity in the overall population currently costs Canada about $1.6 billion annually in direct health care costs.” If Road to Excellence can cut $1 in health care costs per Canadian because communities become more active, it will have generated a positive return on investment.
You have each received a copy of the Canadian Olympic Committee's brief, along with a copy of the Road to Excellence program. The program details a path for Canada's athletes to finish in the top 12 nations at the Summer Olympic Games in 2012 in London, and in the top five at the 2012 Paralympic Games. We will do that by making smart investments with measurable returns in research and training.
We know that the Road to Excellence program works because it's built on a proven template of the Own the Podium 2010 program, an equivalent program for winter sport. We all saw the results from that investment when our winter athletes finished third in the medal count in Torino, Italy, last year, which was Canada's best performance ever. The Own the Podium 2010 program will lead us to finish first in Canada's home games in Vancouver 2010.
The investment in the Road to Excellence program will put more Canadian athletes on the podium. It will give Canadians something to be proud of and will inspire more Canadian communities to get active. I think you will find that this is a sound investment, and I urge you to recommend in your report ongoing funding of $30 million per year for the Road to Excellence program.
Merci.