Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, for the opportunity to present here today. I think you're going to hear a bit of a change of pace from what you've already heard from the other presenters here on the panel.
I'm going to begin our presentation, and then I'm going to turn it over to my colleague, as you suggested, Mr. Chairman, from the Canadian Parks and Recreation Association.
Our comments, as with the others here before the committee, are a reflection of our full submission made in August.
The Sport Matters Group is a coalition of over 80 sport, physical activity, and recreation organizations. The recommendations that follow are the result of a consensus developed by representatives of all of those organizations.
My recommendations highlight the priorities and actions that support Canadians, both able-bodied and those with a disability, who want to be active, as well as those pursuing high-performance endeavours. Our overall goal is to improve health, wellness, and excellence through participation in sport and physical activity.
The performances of our athletes at the recent Olympic and Paralympic Games, where Canada met its objectives and finished 10th and 14th respectively, will hopefully inspire a new generation of Canadian children to take up a sport and become active.
As you might be aware, sport and physical activity participation levels have declined in recent years. Watching our athletes compete at the highest levels is part of the solution to seeing this trend reversed.
Children need role models. Seeing our athletes strive for the podium not only provides inspiration but also helps to instill a sense of national pride. In 2010, 90% of Canadians said the performance of our athletes at the Vancouver Games had a positive impact on Canadian pride.
If Canada is to maintain or increase its national ranking against the rest of the world, additional strategic investments will need to be made. Our recommendations are as follows.
The most important support we can provide is an increase in direct financial assistance to athletes through the athlete assistance program. AAP provides a monthly stipend and tuition support primarily to those athletes ranked highest in the world in their Olympic or Paralympic sport. This stipend has not increased since 2004, whereas the CPI has increased by a cumulative 23.25%.
According to the 2014 status of the athlete survey, athletes receiving AAP support reported an average annual income of $25,616, with an average of $15,200 of that $25,000 coming from the federal and provincial assistance they receive. That was the average annual income of our high-performance athletes. It is 15% lower than it was in 2009. This is not adequate to sustain training for 30-plus hours per week to represent our country.
We are recommending an increase of 24% in the monthly support provided to our carded athletes. This individual increase should be done without reducing the number of athletes funded and would therefore increase the athlete assistance program budget from $28 million to $34.72 million, which is an increase of $6.72 million.
In addition to providing direct support to our high-performance athletes, we are also suggesting funding increases to improve our coaching landscape and to better support the facilities in which these athletes train.
Lastly, with two new team sports being added to the program for Tokyo 2020, we're seeking additional support for team sports. Our total investment request for high-performance sport is therefore $16.22 million per year.
Our sector, though, also believes strongly in the need to invest in active healthy living initiatives that encourage more Canadians to be more active. The individual benefits of being more physically active and less sedentary are well documented. Reductions in the incidence of chronic disease and premature mortality, along with an increase in productivity, will lead to long-term health care benefits for the country.
The Canadian Institute of Actuaries has predicted that by 2037, fully 69% of our government budgets will be consumed by health care costs—a scary number. Clearly, preventative health care, including physical activity in sport, can play a role in mitigating this eventuality.
While our submission spoke to the need to establish a national physical activity plan that would align with existing plans and frameworks, we have now been included in a process to do just that. We recommend that once completed, however, this plan needs to be implemented.
I am now going to turn it over to my colleague, Cathy Jo Noble.