Posted: June 3, 2005

Athletics: Francophonie Follies Trumps Sports Funding

This past March, as has been the case for far too may years, three-quarters of Canada's team at the World X-C Championships were self-funded.

That a country that thinks of itself as a first-world country asks athletes to pay their own expenses to represent Canada at one of the world premier international athletics events, is pathetic.

However, it gets worse. Canada is fully funding an 80 athlete team (plus officials) for the aptly named Francophonie Games which will be held in Niamey, Niger December 7 - 17, 2005.

Athletics Canada does not have the funds to send a full team to the World X-C meet. If athletes did not pay their own expenses Canada would send an abbreviated team. When it comes to the Francophonie Games, funding is not a problem because the Federal Government (the same guys that brought us Adscam) is footing the bill, not only for the games, but also for a pre-event training camp.

The rational for this foolishness is that the government has decided that our participation in the Francophonie is more important than the world X-C Championships. The Francophonie Games are the only sporting event for which the government directly pays the entire cost.

Speaking of foolishness, we send not just one, not two but THREE teams. The Canadian participation to the Games of La Francophonie consists of three teams: Canada, Canada-Quebec and Canada-New Brunswick.

The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA - one of many Canadian pork-barreling agencies) says that Canada is part of La Francophonie, a vast network of 51 states and governments that share French as a common language.

However, almost one-quarter of the countries - 12 to be exact - do not have French listed as a language.

When the Games were held in Canada in 2001, the total cost was in the $100 million range. The costs included the travel expenses of athletes from many of the countries competing. In the same year, by the way, most of our athletes attending the World X-C Championships paid their own expenses. The most significant record set at the 2001 Francophonie Games was the number of defections and subsequent refugee status claims. The cost for this is unknown.

If you think that Canada should prioritize the use of taxpayer dollars for legitimate international athletic competitions, contact the MP responsible for sport is The Honourable Stephen Owen, Vancouver Quadra (British Columbia).

The Honourable Stephen Owen
Secretary of State
Western Economic Diversification Canada
141 Laurier Ave West
Suite 500
Ottawa, ON K1P5J3
Phone: (613) 994-9909
Fax: 613) 994-9811
Email: owens@parl.gc.ca