Mr. Speaker, I am certainly pleased to participate in the debate on Motion No. 466, which asks the government to continue to engage in the anti-doping movement and encourage other nations to ratify the UNESCO International Convention against Doping in Sport.
Like UNESCO, Canada is aware that sport must play an important role in the protection of health, in moral, cultural and physical education and in promoting international peace and understanding. Canada is also convinced of the need to encourage and coordinate international cooperation to eliminate doping in sport.
In Canada, the act to promote physical activity and sport, which was passed in 2003 acknowledges the importance that sport and the promotion of physical activity has for the health and welfare of all Canadians. That act is based on high values and ethical principles, particularly regarding the elimination of doping from sport.
Like the act to promote physical activity and sport, the UNESCO International Convention against Doping in Sport condemns the use of doping in sport as a result of its consequences for the health of athletes and quite frankly, for the principle of fair play.
The UNESCO convention is also intended to be an international instrument that forms the basis of national anti-doping policies and intergovernmental cooperation in the field. Its aim is to protect ethical principles and educational values.
In this perspective, Canada proactively adopted the Canadian policy against doping in sport which is grounded in the fundamental commitment to safeguard the integrity and values of our athletes and of our sports. The purpose of this policy is to prevent the use of substances and methods prohibited in Canadian sport in order to protect individuals who participate in sport in accordance with the rules and spirit of sport. We are going to make sure that those who play by the rules and those who act by the rules have the opportunity for fair play.
Based on the Canadian policy against doping in sport, the Canadian anti-doping program which is managed by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, embraces the many national and international developments in the field of anti-doping.
The Canadian anti-doping program is consistent with the world anti-doping code. Its purpose is to deter and detect the use of prohibited substances and methods and thus to protect the right of athletes to participate in fair competitions that comply with the rules of ethics and to ensure the integrity of all of our amateur sports.
The UNESCO International Convention against Doping in Sport also reflects an awareness of the influence that high level athletes have on youth and of the importance of education to prevent doping.
We in Canada have developed a Canadian strategy for ethical conduct in sport which was approved by the federal, provincial and territorial ministers of sport in April 2002.
That Canadian strategy for ethical conduct in sport which is based on a partnership between the Canadian government and the provincial and territorial governments very clearly reflects one of the principles of the UNESCO International Convention against Doping in Sport. It is that the elimination of this phenomenon depends in part on a gradual harmonization of anti-doping standards and practices in sport and on national and international cooperation.
This strategy, which has been rebranded as the true sport strategy, contains guidelines for a voluntary, collective exercise designed to change attitudes, values and behaviours at various levels of sport in Canada. The True Sport Secretariat coordinates the implementation of this strategy and since May 2003, has been guided by a steering committee of experts from various areas of sports, which include the following: AthletesCAN, the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, the Canadian Olympic Committee, the Coaching Association of Canada, national sports organizations, officials, three provincial and territorial governments, the federal government through Sport Canada, and provincial and territorial sports organizations through the Canadian Council of Provincial/Territorial Sport Federations.
The collaboration in Canada between governments and the Canadian sport community attests to a complementary effort in the prevention of and fight against doping in sport. It makes it possible to ensure the proper conduct of sports events in a spirit of fair play and protects the health of those who take part in them, a principle conveyed by the UNESCO International Convention against Doping in Sport.
At the 2010 Vancouver-Whistler Olympics and Paralympic Winter Games, the eyes of the world will be on our country. Our ability to hold clean and ethical major games will depend on national and international cooperation.
With its research expertise and the Canadian government's commitment to anti-doping in sport, Canada has all the ingredients to provide the Canadian public and the world with high quality games in the spirit of anti-doping in sport.
The UNESCO International Convention against Doping in Sport, the Canadian strategy for ethical conduct in sport, the Canadian policy against doping in sport and the Canadian anti-doping program are all tools to guide the development of sport in Canada through exemplary ethics.
The support of the governments of all countries is essential to our common objective of eliminating doping in sport. We will continue to encourage those countries that have not yet ratified the UNESCO International Convention against Doping in Sport to do so and, to the extent of our capabilities, will offer the expertise and resources necessary for its implementation.
There are a couple of things that I think bring this to light, and I want to explain them.
I am a member of the finance committee. The prebudget consultations took place in October of this year in Victoria, very close to Vancouver where the games will take place, and went right across the country to Halifax.
One of the places we stopped to hear a presentation was in Montreal. The presentation was made by the Canadian Olympic Committee, which is headed up by Mr. Alex Baumann. Most of us will remember that he was the gold medal swimmer for Canada in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. He has done a great deal of work on behalf of the organization and his organization has done a great deal of work on behalf of athletes in our country. Most important, it has done work and wants to do more work on behalf of potential athletes.
His organization's request was for this government to continue to fund the winter Olympics, but also to establish a new protocol and a new funding system for the summer Olympics. To that end, over the next two years, we are investing upward of $28 million in the Canadian summer Olympic program, under Mr. Baumann's direction.
That commitment is not only about the athletes who are competing today. It is about the potential young people who will engage in sports. They will find it to be a great opportunity for them, whether it be for an education, or learning how to play the sport, or simply being involved with their friends and with athletes of the same ilk.
This is a symbol for the type of commitment the government has to sport in our country, the commitment we have to our athletes and the commitment we have to our children. It fits perfectly well with the motion in front of us today.