Canadian Sport Policy Renewal

The federal provincial/territorial Ministers responsible for sport have agreed to renew the Canadian Sport Policy. Now is the time for interested Canadians and sport communities to contribute and to help build a sport policy that reflects the sport they want in Canada. The vision embraced by the policy will lay the foundation upon which we will focus our efforts over the next ten years to improve sport in Canada. The Discussion Paper: Towards a Renewed Canadian Sport Policy is now posted online. Richard Way, Project Leader of the Canadian Sport for Life movement and a member of the Leadership Team, provides his thoughts on the Discussion Paper.

Canadian Sport for Life (CS4L) is a movement to increase sport’s contribution in Canadian society recognizing sport as an important part of everyone’s life by promoting each child’s healthy and logical development in a sport or physical activity. A Discussion Paper, Partnering Recreation with Sport, begins to examine the role of municipalities. A number of CS4L initiatives are being made possible in Alberta through the efforts of:

Since adoption in 2002, the Canadian Sport Policy has represented the common vision and objectives of 14 governments (Federal, Provincial and Territorial) in the development of sport throughout Canada. The federal provincial/territorial Ministers responsible for sport have agreed to renew the Canadian Sport Policy. The vision embraced by the renewed policy will lay the foundation upon which efforts will be focused over the next ten years to improve sport in Canada.

Conservative Party promises from the 2011 Federal election which would impact sport included to introduce a $500 fitness tax credit for adults and double the existing children's fitness tax credit from $500 to $1,000 annually. The adult tax credit was pledged to be brought in after the budget was balanced and while the children's fitness tax would be doubled before the end of the current mandate. Bill C-252 (Private Member’s Bill 41st Parliament, 1st Session), which would begin to fulfill this pledge has received first reading on June 22, 2011 in the House of Commons.

Budget 2011:

• An increase of $0.8 M to Special Olympics Canada funded internally by Sport Canada’s existing budget.
• $20 M to youth crime prevention programs which included qualifying community-based sporting opportunities for youth.
• A commitment of government/community partnerships lead by Human Resources and Skills Development to enabling communities to tackle local challenges and to test new approaches to improve performance which may provide further impetus for the sporting community to look for new ways in which sport and recreation can be used to address societal challenges confronting groups such as the homeless, at-risk youth and the long-term unemployed.
• $100 M to help establish the Canada Brain Research Fund to improve Canada’s capabilities in neuroscience which may enhance concussion knowledge.
• Changes to the charitable status of Registered Canadian Amateur Athletic Associations requiring them to “have the promotion of amateur athletics in Canada on a nation-wide basis as their exclusive purpose and exclusive function rather than their primary purpose and function.” RCAAAs will be subject to the same regulatory sanctions as registered charities for breach of these requirements, namely a monetary penalty, the suspension of qualified donee status or the revocation of registration.
• Provides the Canada Revenue Agency with the authority to refuse to register a Canadian amateur athletic association or charity, or act against an already registered one, where there is a high risk of abuse as a result of individuals being involved in the management of the organization (or on its board or among its trustees) who have a history of fraud, misuse of charitable resources or other related contraventions.