Ottawa

What it costs to own the podium

In an interview with Postmedia, Bal Gosal explains the government’s commitment to sports.

Ottawa has almost doubled spending on elite athletes since the Athens Games eight years ago. Gosal’s ministry was also one of the few to escape Harper government spending cuts in the spring budget. “I am one of the luckiest ministers. Nobody touched sports funding,” said the MP for Bramalea-Gore-Malton. “I am confident we will do better in 2016. Progress is being made because of the doubling in funding and it will keep on building. You are really going to see a difference in a couple of years.”

Gosal said sports dodged the recent cuts because the prime minister is “very keen on sports,” and understands their value to the country. “We want to be a leading sporting nation and we are proud of this. We will do what it takes to get high-performance athletes to achieve podium finishes.”

Sport Canada is projected to spend $198.8 million during this fiscal year. Of that, about $78.6 million is dedicated to the Summer Olympics and Paralympics.

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