Quote:
Originally Posted by sa226
This is what I don't understand about the criticism of the "Own the podium" program.
Wasn't the program created to improve funding so that Canadians can compete with other countries on the same level financially?
The international press has hammered us on the own the podium program, apparently its un-canadian to want to win, and apparently the program is also responsible for the death of the Georgian luger.....
I don't get it.
As to your point on Australia. I think it would be worth comparing the funding between the 2 countries. We have a presence in both the Summer and Winter games, where as Australia really only has a presence in the Summer games, so the majority of their funding would go to Summer athletes. Just a guess.
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Okay, so I've done some digging on this and here is what I've come up with for funding of Canada Vs. Australia:
Australia Funding
Sport funding in Australia is supported by the government to the tune of $2.142 billion Australian Dollars in 2005-06 (worth slightly less than Canadian Dollars). This is shared between the state and the federal government.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sport_in_Australia
(I know it is wiki so take with a grain of salt but it is likely within the ballpark)
Canada Funding
http://gymbrooke.com/funding.htm
According to this website about $133mm was funded to Canadian sports programs in 2005-2006. If you add in the $117mm 5-year Own The Podium strategy, that addes about $20mm extra per year, so that works out to about $155mm/year spent on amateur sports. This is spread between Winter and Summer events but the weight is generally much heavier on the Winter events.
Again, this is just a brief search but if it is correct, then Australia spends 16x more money on Amateur sports than Canada. Australia also has only 21 million people vs. Canada's 35 million people so per person this funding is even less in Canada.
As for the argument about social programs, the last time I checked Australia had a very good Universal Health Care program and their social programs are still funded strongly. Taxation in Australia is roughly the same as Canada's, except they have a 10% GST versus our 5% GST.
Either way, I don't buy the argument that by funding more amateur sports hurts other social programs, we just need to re-allocate the money better. Kids look up to heroes at the olympics and get involved because we do well. That in turn gets kids involved in sports which keeps them healthier which reduces health care costs, etc. etc. Not to mention the value of pursuing a sport to its fullest and realizing what you can achieve.