Those involved in the Canadian amateur sport scene have long known what the Future of Sport in Canada Commission’s final report laid bare on Tuesday.
“There is no doubt that Canada needs to invest more in sport. This re-investment is long overdue,” the report said.
Referred to as “broken,” “fragmented” and “unsustainable,” the report called for an overhaul of the Canadian sport system, including the creation of a Crown corporation that would oversee and streamline sports across the country.
It said that an underfunded sport system is an unsafe one in which athletes are afraid to speak out for fear of losing streams of financial support.
And it dove deep into problems with infrastructure, organizational alignment, funding sources, lack of grassroots participation and much, much more.
Now, the real work begins.
“What is still giving me a bit of anxiety and even pause for concern is that there’s a lot of themes. Which means there’s a lot to fix,” said Canada Basketball CEO Mike Bartlett, who also serves as co-chair of the summer sport caucus that oversees government advocacy efforts along with the Canadian Olympic Committee.
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Canada’s underwhelming performance at the Milano Cortina Olympics, with just five gold medals and 21 total podium appearances, could be attributed to a broken sport system finally revealing itself in results.
Only one of those gold medallists is under age 25, and just two are under 30.
“We’re hopefully going to start to see some change to the way [national sport organizations] are managed and the way funding is brought into amateur sport and stuff. It’s been so bad for so long that we’re now lacking a next generation,” said Hayden Mayeur, a 28-year-old speed skater who did not compete in Italy.
Neither Bartlett nor Mayeur was surprised to see the results of the commission’s report, with both having lived the reality of a struggling Canadian sport sector for multiple years now.
Mayeur, in addition to two-a-day training six days per week, works on a ranch outside of Calgary and started a business called Hayloft, a mobile espresso service that touts itself as Team Canada owned and operated.
Eighteen Canadian athletes, all needing extra jobs to support their athletic endeavours, are now working under Mayeur, he said.
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“This isn’t the first time that it’s been brought to the government’s attention that funding’s an issue in amateur sport. Obviously, this is quite a significant report that’s been released now. So I would hope it has more impact. I have, perhaps, let’s say a little more confidence than past times,” he said.
Bartlett, meanwhile, runs the national sport organization (NSO) for one of the popular games in Canada.
Yet Canada Basketball still carries a deficit, he said. Bartlett, too, was cautious in his praise of the report.
“It’s progress, but it’s not a win. In basketball terms, we’re at the end of the first quarter. Everybody’s got a feel for the game. And now you get back in the huddle, you make some adjustments and we got to see what’s next,” he said.
What’s next is a list of nearly 100 calls to action laid out by the report, and varying timelines of up to five years for them to be achieved.
Among the strongest findings was criticism from some toward Own The Podium, an initiative created in the early 2000s ahead of the Vancouver Olympics to identify and fund potential medallists.
“While some praised its contribution to international performance, others criticized its strong emphasis on medal outcomes, and its influence over sport organizations’ priorities,” the report said. “We were told that the intense competition for funding is detrimental to sport in Canada. It can cause sport organizations to focus excessively on high performance, potentially neglecting other priorities within their sport, such as providing leadership in sport development across the nation.”
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While Mayeur agreed that Own The Podium’s incentive structure could lead to a vicious cycle — especially in expensive sports like bobsleigh — Bartlett pushed back.
He noted that Own The Podium is not the only available source of funding, and that it accounts for just 20 per cent of Canada Basketball’s revenue.
“Sport is a meritocracy. The podium reflects the fact that sport is a meritocracy. There is a scoreboard associated with every sporting competition,” he said. “I don’t think it’s creating these problems in the sector. I think the sector has problems and Own the Podium will take some accountabilities towards some of those as would an NSO and as would the COC and as would Sport Canada. But man, the system isn’t broken because of Own the Podium.”
Meanwhile, the report also advanced the idea of amalgamating NSOs — Speed Skating Canada and Skate Canada, for example, are both governed internationally by the International Skating Union and could theoretically combine — to streamline operations and increase efficiency.
Mayeur said he could see it working for his sport, especially since several figure skaters and speed skaters already train together at Maurice Richard Arena in Montreal.
“If you’re good at marketing, you should be able to market for all the Canadian sports. You’re selling the same thing. You’re selling high-level Team Canada sports, period, right?” he said. “There’s a bunch of roles administratively that don’t need to be sport-specific whatsoever. And those jobs, I absolutely think should be shared amongst multiple NSOs.”
Another potential source of new funding for sport is sports betting tax, which raised over $60 million in 2023, per the report.
However, in addition to that providing danger in terms of addiction and match-fixing, the money may not be directly accessible.
“I think that correlation could be more direct. But it’s not like, ‘Oh wait, we should be using that money that’s sitting over there unused for sport.’ It will result in the government having to decide to move it from one use to another,” Bartlett said.
Of course, some of these details could be hashed out as the reimagined Canadian sport system begins to turn from idea to a firm plan. Given Prime Minister Mark Carney recently alluded to a revamped funding system, there is some optimism.
Then again, core funding for sport at the federal level has remained stagnant for 20 years, despite massive increases in inflation and cost of living.
“It’s nice to see this report come out. I think the next step is to actually see some action from the federal government,” Mayeur said.
Added Bartlett: “It’s not like, alright, cool, now we flip to Page 1 and get started. It’s not that simple.”
The second quarter is just beginning.
