Canadian Heritage committee  I am prepared to answer your questions in the language of your choice. However, given the sensitive nature of the subject of safe sport, I will be more comfortable answering you in English. Thank you for your understanding.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Madam Chair.

Canadian Heritage committee  That sounds good. Hopefully, I'll be done before then. Madam Chair and distinguished members of the committee, I want to thank you for the important work this committee is doing and for the opportunity to speak to you today. I also want to thank all those who have shown courage by speaking out to share what they have experienced.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Mr. Housefather. I'm going to interpret your question in a certain way. There's no country in the world that has done it as well as Canada, meaning that Team Canada's athletes in March decided that the important question wasn't whether they could train for the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020 but whether they could do so safely for their families and their communities.

Canadian Heritage committee  It's critical that there's funding there to allow clubs and other local facilities to be open. The provincial and territorial organizations in effect depend on a revenue source that's derived from that, which then flows up to the national sports organizations. There's an interconnectivity among all these sports organizations in our federal model that depends on all partners at all levels of government doing their part.

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, we're not asking for a penny for the Canadian Olympic Committee. The Canadian Paralympic Committee has come two budget cycles without asking for a penny for itself, and we're proud of that, but we do represent the system, and there are some nice stories. We read today about Nordiq Canada seeing a spike in interest in cross-country skiing and in the sale of cross-country ski equipment.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Mr. van Koeverden. It's quite something to be on the receiving end of a question from you in this setting. I must say, on behalf of our sport system of all these national sport organizations, that we're deeply appreciative for the $72 million in emergency funding and the additional $14 million top-up to community sport and clubs, which is deeply needed.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you. The mission of the Canadian Olympic Committee is, in its simplest expression, to do everything we can to put Canadian athletes atop the Olympic podium. The COC itself is privately funded by 27 marketing partnerships, including some of the most prominent Canadian businesses—RBC, Hudson's Bay, Bell and Canadian Tire.