HOUSE OF COMMONS -- THURSDAY FEBRUARY 14, 2008
Hon. Hedy Fry (Vancouver Centre, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, Canadian Olympic athletes are in Ottawa today to plead with the government to implement $30 million Road to Excellence fund so they can train for the Beijing Summer Olympics.
Road to Excellence is modelled on the $60 million Own the Podium fund started by the Liberal government in 2004. This program resulted in an unprecedented number of Canadian medals at the Turin Olympics. Today, Canada ranks second in the world in winter sports.
Funding for summer and Paralympic Games is pathetic. I have been inundated with letters from Olympians and prominent members of the Canadian sports community anxious about the Road to Excellence funding.
For over two years, summer athletes have been asking for this fund, hopefully. Now, with only a few months until Beijing, they are desperate.
Once again, the Conservative government does not get it. To win a medal, one needs to be able to train. To be able to train, one needs money.
