The federal government will deliver money from the budget to the athletes in Paris

CALGARY — The federal government made good on a budget promise for Canada’s athletes preparing for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, announcing a $55-million infusion into the sports system Monday.

National Sports Minister Carla Qualtrough, Labor Minister Randy Boissonnault and Treasury Board President Anita Anand said in Calgary that the money for monthly athlete checks, safe sports and removing barriers to sports that had been promised in the April budget I am on my way.

“I’m focused on a new vision of sports in Canada, with a sports system that looks like Canada,” Qualtrough said.

“A system that invests in athletes and organizations who work hard to represent Canada internationally and invests in grassroots organizations that enable more Canadians to participate in sport and live more active lives.”

The biggest investment is in the Athlete Assistance Program (AAP) or money card.

Top athletes were paid $1,765 a month — $1,060 for a development-level athlete — to pay their bills and cover training and competition costs that their national sports organization could not.

The federal government will invest $35 million in AAP over the next five years and $7 million annually thereafter, an increase of about 25 percent.

This is up from the 18.8% requested by AthletesCAN, the Canadian Olympic Committee’s Athlete Commission and the Canadian Paralympic Committee’s Athlete Council ahead of the federal budget.

About 1,900 athletes in 90 sports receive monthly checks.

“This increase in AAP funding, also known as cards among athletes, is vital,” said bobsledder Cynthia Appiah. “Funding hasn’t changed in seven, eight years.

“It can be the difference between being able to go to that last competition that will help you qualify or not for the Olympics, or the Commonwealth Games or not.

“Right now, we’re in a bit of a flux. The sports system is struggling to be able to maintain and continue the high level of success that the country expects us to achieve when we go to these high level competitions.”

Athletes saw their AAP increase in 2017 by $265 per month, or 18 percent, in the first increase since 2004.

The 2024 Olympic Games open on 26 July and close on 11 August, followed by the Paralympic Games from 28 August to 8 September.

The federal government will invest $16 million over the next two years in safe sport and $15 million in removing barriers to community sports programs

The Canadian Olympic Committee and Canadian Paralympic Committee have requested $104 million in this year’s federal budget for 61 national sports organizations that COC president David Shoemaker said are “on the brink of crisis.”

That was not granted, and Qualtrough acknowledged the lapse on Thursday.

“Those conversations are ongoing,” she said. “I would expect going forward, as we continue to put our own house in order at the Government of Canada and throughout the sport system, I’m very hopeful that we will continue to make investments in the sport system.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on July 4, 2024.

Donna Spencer, Canadian Press