Canadian Heritage committee  Well, we have no-contact swimming, so it's all about hockey.

Canadian Heritage committee  It's hard in this country to have an East German type of program where if you're 6'3“ you go into rowing, and if you want to eat, you go into rowing. I think we have to find a way to have within a community—and that was my point earlier about the Gatineau pool—quality installations and quality infrastructure which will bring quality teachers, principals, and doctors, which will give kids a chance to experience all sorts of things.

Canadian Heritage committee  Our champions are our Olympians. They do what they need to do. I remember the day after the Olympic Games. I told my athletes that the most important day was the one after winning their medals because that is when they would go to give talks at schools and companies. They would go and talk about the importance of an active life and the fact that you don't need to take the elevator to go up one floor.

Canadian Heritage committee  I think we have to be careful and stop thinking about Olympians all the time. Olympians are the product of a country's fine sport structure. If someone has talent, they will go to the Olympics because there are coaches at that level. I am not sure if you remember, but two years ago, the government added a tax credit for volunteer firefighters.

Canadian Heritage committee  Giving someone something does not mean taking something from someone else. I think a university training program is needed for those who want to pursue a career, not for those who volunteer on Saturday mornings and Wednesday evenings. The same goes for school teachers. Training and programs are available.

Canadian Heritage committee  I think your role in hockey is really kind of a high-end business. Actually, most clubs run everything. They will run the learn to programs all the way up to trying to get to the international level. To me, the key is to create a place where even the not necessarily gifted ones feel a part of something special.

Canadian Heritage committee  I think there are a number of factors. The first one is infrastructure. Canada's sports infrastructure is not up to the task. We can put a lot of kids in a pool. We can fit 8 swimmers in a lane, but if there are not enough lanes and we have to fit 15 kids per lane, that is too much.

Canadian Heritage committee  No problem.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thanks. I forgot to bring my swim caps for you guys today. Last time I gave you a bunch. I hope you or your kids use them. And you keep getting e-mail messages from John Weston about the swimming lessons for MPs that I teach on Thursday mornings at 6:45, so I expect you there tomorrow.

Canadian Heritage committee  I'll respond quickly, but then I'll pass it on to Chris, who has a lot more statistics on that. I can tell you that the investment in fitness today will help us tomorrow in the health care program. There's no question. Research has been done. We all know it. But more than anything, I think it's the mental health that sports bring to people, the building of confidence.

Canadian Heritage committee  More than anything, though, the offshoot of a great vision, I think, is pride. You can't put a price on pride. You can't put a price on what it does to families. I'm not sure we even know the long-term positive effect of fitness when we have people who are 60 and 70 years old learning new skills and feeling great about themselves.

Canadian Heritage committee  I call them the 7-Eleven sports hubs. I think when you build facilities in local communities, families don't have to ship their good kids away to go and train all over the country. They can dream at home, sleeping in their own beds and so on. I think that's a huge strength in these infrastructure concepts in local communities.

Canadian Heritage committee  I think that in the last few years there's been a lot of work done in coaching education. We can't change every one of those coaches. Some of them have been coaching for a long time. There is the long-term athlete development model we've had now for ten years. Again, I think it's Sport Canada that took the lead by saying to every sport that if it's going to be sponsored by Sport Canada, it needs to put this into place.

Canadian Heritage committee  That's a great question. In the 1976 Olympics, if I remember the numbers well, Australia won only three medals. In 1979 a federal MP stood up in the House and said that it was un-Australian not to be a powerhouse in sport for any Australian. So they built the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, which is where I ended up working for several years.

Canadian Heritage committee  There are several points in all that. First, recognizing volunteers is very important. In 2004, the Howard government, in Australia, said that Canada and the United States had conducted studies that pointed to a major obesity problem. They said that Australia had the same problem.