I wanted to put a different spin on the issue of the importance of getting kids into sports.
I'm the member of Parliament for Thunder Bay—Rainy River, which includes a number of small towns like Atikokan and Fort Frances. Thunder Bay and particularly those small towns need immigrants because they won't have enough Canadians for those jobs. The problem is that when immigrants come to these small communities, often they don't stay; they go on to a bigger centre where there's often a bigger ethnic community and also where there's more to do. In the small towns in the winter, if they're from some warm country, a lot of people spend a lot of time in their houses, and they aren't happy.
That all changes when your kids get into hockey. My wife came from the Philippines 15 years ago. First of all, all of her friends were from the Philippines. Then two of my kids got into minor hockey, and suddenly she's an expert on hockey. She's yelling out to the ref, “Offside!" A lot of her friends are now people from outside the Filipino community.
I think hockey is a great way of integrating people into Canadian society and giving them something to do in small towns. I would say it's not just hockey; skiing is another way. Not only is it an important activity and a way of integrating into society, but I think getting outside is also really important.
Mr. Di Buono, Jumpstart has done a lot in this area. How can the federal government work with organizations such as yours to get more kids involved in hockey? If I could throw it in there, besides the immigrant kids, I think a lot of indigenous kids find the cost of minor hockey to be a real financial barrier.