Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I'm not going to speak to the brief. You have the brief, so you've seen what's there. I'll just highlight a few key points.
I'm with the Sport Matters Group. We've been in front of the committee for the past nine years, but typically on Parliament Hill. It particularly pleases me to be here in Vancouver, given that this is the Olympic and Paralympic city. It's a place that leads the country in sport participation and sport volunteering, so I think it's appropriate that we're here today providing some remarks. I would add that it's also my home. I live in Chelsea, on the Quebec side, and work in Ottawa, but I spent about 15 years training here with Canada's national field hockey team and went on to compete for our country in two Olympic Games.
Not long ago, I think Thérèse Brisson, from the other hockey--ice hockey--was in front of you in Ottawa. You would have heard quite an animated presentation about the importance of supporting sport, so I won't repeat Madame Brisson's remarks. But I will pick up on them in our recommendations.
I would also add, just before I move to the policy recommendations, a thank you to the committee. In the last two years I think this committee has provided sage advice to the Minister of Finance, and in both cases action has resulted. There has been increased investment in the Own the Podium program, and those watching our Olympic and Paralympic results from this past winter will know that Canada now leads the world. In the Beijing games you'll see a best-ever finish at 13th place. So support for that budget provision is leading to real results.
The second thing is that the infrastructure stimulus measures that were introduced in the most recent budget are also having a profound effect. It's been 40 years since the centennial year, when we renewed our infrastructure in communities. We're talking about the memorial rinks, the centennial pools, and such. We now estimate through our policy analysis that there will be over $3 billion of new capital invested by federal, provincial, and territorial governments, along with community partners--a number of the municipalities that are here today and a number of local community not-for-profit and charitable groups. So thank you to the committee for the support of those recommendations.
Now we need to look at three things--a three-legged stool--for the coming decade. First we need to bridge the gap in our national sport program. It requires a $22 million investment because of the economic downturn. Canada's corporate sector is not able to participate at the level we anticipated, given the downturn, and we are respectfully asking the government to help us bridge that gap. It's an interim measure that will help us get past the impact of the recession in 2010-11. The details of what the $22 million will be put toward and will achieve for the country are itemized in the brief, as they are in the Canadian Olympic Committee's brief and the Own the Podium brief itself.
The other two legs of the stool relate to the Income Tax Act. The fiscal policy of the Income Tax Act is something that's rarely looked at to support the sport or social policy that the Government of Canada, Sport Canada, spends its time on. There are two simple changes to the Income Tax Act that would greatly enhance community and individual participation in sport.
First is to modernize the act so that amateur community sport becomes charitable. For example, Mr. Dechert, a minor hockey team in Erindale that seeks to have a fundraiser and issue charitable receipts is not able to do so. It's somewhat incongruent with the fact that a local arts group can do that. So modernizing the act and making amateur sport at the community level charitable will help communities help one another to increase sport participation and all the benefits that come from that.
The second change to the Income Tax Act is to amend the children's fitness tax credit so it is fully refundable. It's currently a non-refundable tax credit. There's a group of Canadians who are just below the taxpaying line who are not benefiting from that credit. As you can imagine, this is when we need to support those families so they can receive the benefits and take the steps to register their children in soccer, hockey, skating, or swimming programs, and such.
So we suggest a three-legged stool, the first priority being a $22 million stimulus investment, and then two changes to the Income Tax Act to make amateur sport charitable and the children's fitness tax credit fully refundable.
Thank you.