Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, left, and Prime Minister Stephen Harper give a thumbs up Thursday afternoon on Parliament Hill. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press) Canada's record 14 gold medals at the Vancouver Olympics appears to have pried a little extra money from Ottawa's tight fist.
The budget sets aside $62 million for "encouraging participation" in amateur sports over the next two years, with the lion's share of that going to Canada's Olympic-bound elite athletes.
The Own the Podium program, which was to provide $11 million this year for those athletes training for the next Winter Games, will see its budget doubled over each of the next two years.
This budget allocates an extra of $44 million over two years for Canada's high-performance athletes, a sum that is designed to enhance existing federal funding of $47 million a year, Canadian Press reported.
Included in that is:
- $10 million over two years to renew funding for the identification and development of elite athletes.
- $34 million over two years to renew and enhance programs that support training and preparation for competition for the development of both winter and summer Olympic athletes, who the finance minister referred to as Canada's "ambassadors, both at home and on the world stage."
The funding, the budget says, will be allocated so that it builds "on the success of Own the Podium."
Minister of State for Sport Gary Lunn will announce details in the next few months on how the money will be targeted to encourage private sector investment in elite athlete training.
Private sector involvement is considered critical to maintaining the Own the Podium program funding at current levels.
The Vancouver Olympic organizing committee was able to bolster the Own the Podium program with $44 million in corporate and provincial funding it secured before the 2010 Games.
Ottawa was asked to provide $22 million in new funding to help offset that investment, which it now appears to be committing itself to, at least for the next two years.
During the Vancouver Games, Lunn pointed out that the government was in a belt-tightening phase as it tried to deal with a big deficit and that he wanted to minimize expectations.
Also part of the package to encourage participation in sports is:
- $10 million over two years for the Canadian Paralympic Committee.
- $2 million over two years for Special Olympics Canada.
- $6 million over two years for ParticipACTION, a public campaign to encourage fitness.
