Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my hon. colleague from Berthier—Montcalm for his question.
No, it is not normal. The cuts to amateur sport mean that the 22 national organizations I mentioned earlier are subject to a new funding framework. They are doomed to oblivion because their funding was abolished.
This is why we maintain that the federal government has once again chosen to help the rich instead of the poor. This is also why the government must rethink its priorities where amateur sport is concerned. It should encourage and support our amateur athletes.
I want to give another example. When the issue of propaganda was addressed earlier, it was said that out of the $1.3 million allocated to arenas, $900,000 was handed to the Corel Centre and the Molson Centre to ensure high visibility for the maple leaf. This is very upsetting to us.
We have athletes living in poverty and getting very low wages, while the government chooses to subsidize sports millionaires. These people earn $3 million to $4 million every year, while our athletes, who truly need to be supported and from whom we expect excellence, only get between $189 and $800 a month.
This is unacceptable and we are firmly opposed to sport being used to promote Canadian unity, national unity. The only goal of amateur sport in Canada should be to promote excellence and not to display flags to promote national unity.