TORONTO: The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) on Monday called on the federal government to increase financial support for national sports organizations, which it says are overstretched and facing a significant decline in services and programs.
A Deloitte study commissioned by the Canadian Olympic Committee and the Canadian Paralympic Committee said the country's 61 national sports organizations need an additional C$104 million ($76.61 million) in direct funding annually.
The core funding for the bodies governing amateur sports across Canada has not changed since 2005.
Without additional funding, five-year projections showed the organizations would face a shortfall of C$134 million as they attempted to carry out their core missions.
The COC said the Canadian sports system is struggling to keep up with rising costs. She added that support for athletes at all levels would suffer without an increase in funding, and that the system risked taking a step backward.
“We knew this was a growing problem, but seeing the numbers in black and white really highlights that we are on the brink of a crisis,” COC CEO David Shoemaker said in a statement.
“National sports organizations cannot continue on this path. They cannot be in deficit, and if nothing changes, difficult decisions will have to be made.”
($1 = 1.3576 Canadian dollars)
