New Brunswick’s lack of sports funding hurting province

In grade 11, Patrick Côté faced a difficult decision; stay in the town he had grown up in all his life and graduate with his friends, or move away and pursue the sport he loved.

The Grand Falls, New Brunswick native left his small town in search of green pastures and better funding.

“I’m proud of my roots, but it is unfortunate that I train with athletes that have five or six times the funding,” said Côté. “I didn’t want to leave but I pretty much had to if I wanted to succeed at my sport.”

Côté is currently ranked top three in Biathlon Canada and recently just missed out on qualifying for the 2010 Olympics.

Grand Falls native Patrick Côté was forced to leave his home province of New Brunswick in order to receive more funding to train in Biathlon. Photo Courtesy Patrick Côté.

While receiving a small amount of funding from the provincial government, Côté receives most of his funding from corporate sponsors. He was also one of several Canadians who received money from General Mill’s Aspiring Olympians campaign.

“I’m thankful for all of my sponsors, but they aren’t always easy to find. As a student I am always in search for sponsors; without them I wouldn’t be able to do what I love.”

Côté believes that the constant cutbacks to the Wellness, Culture, and Sport budget are driving New Brunswick’s high-performance athletes out of the province.

“It seems as far as sports go in New Brunswick, the government is telling you that if you want to excel in your sport, go to a different place in order to get better,” added Côté.

Despite competing at a higher-level than most in New Brunswick would, Côté believes that all would benefit from an increased budget for Wellness, Culture and Sport in the province whether it be for supporting high-performance athletes or programs to get youth involved in sports.

“Funding high performance athletes does help more than just the athlete. It has the ability to motivate people as athletes and can be seen as positive role models,” said Côté. 

Evan MacInnis, Canadian Sport Centre Atlantic athlete services manager agrees with the fact that New Brunswick needs to keep the few high level athletes it has in the province to serve as role models for aspiring athletes.

“When you’re a kid you look at role models; they give up a lot for their sport, therefore young children look up and strive to be like them,” said MacInnis. “If you have an Olympian from anywhere in New Brunswick, it shows kids that maybe they can do it too. If they work hard and dedicate themselves, then you can accomplish your goals no matter where you come from.”

MacInnis commented on how Prince Edward Island united around Olympic athlete Heather Moyse and her success at the games.

“You watch on the television and you see images of people in small town community halls waving flags and holding up signs supporting her,” said MacInnis. “Nothing unites a community like sport.”

Unfortunately for New Brunswickers, they did not have a single competitor of the record high amount of athletes Canada sent. It was the first time in the 86-year history of the Winter Olympics that New Brunswick had no athletes compete.

“It’s embarrassing,” said MacInnis. “It’s not that we don’t have quality athletes in the province, it’s that we don’t have the funding.”

Despite being one of Canada’s smallest provinces, the number of Olympians still is not proportionate according to the population. In reality, the province should have four athletes representing them.

“I feel that New Brunswick is worse off than any of the other Maritime Provinces,” added MacInnis. “Nova Scotia has provincial funding as well as money from the lottery commission. Newfoundland has its own sports fund set up and PEI also gets help from their government.”

MacInnis believes that the system has not been in place for a long time and it is finally catching up with the province.

The funding does not seem to be coming anytime soon either, as the budget for Sports, Wellness and Culture has not been increased since 1985. The 2010-2011 provincial budget was announced in December, with a 5.3 percent reduction for the departments.

Funding for sport was reduced to $2.67 million for 2010-11, down from $2.82 million in 2009-10 and $2.95 million in 2008-09.

“If you don’t have money for coaching or facilities how do you ever expect to get better?” MacInnis questioned. “There’s a lot more you can do, but when we don’t have the funding then you put up barriers, especially for youth. When there’s a lack of money then it causes fees to go up and more kids are left out.”

Since 2008, Sport New Brunswick has been endorsing a commission to get $6 million for their annual budget.

“All we’re asking for is $6 million which is not a lot considering that’s only one day of the health care budget,” said MacInnis. “We want to be able to have a system in place which guarantees sustainable funding so we can promise that the money will always be coming in.”

Jack Carr, Tory critic for Wellness, Culture and Sport said the Liberals have done nothing for the commission.

Minister of Wellness, Culture and Sport, Hédard Albert acknowledged the funding cuts, but argued that he does all he can to try to increase funding. He noted that when there is not a lot of money coming into the province you have to make difficult choices.

While the provincial government has stumbled, the Federal government has done their part. In 2005 they launched a Canadian sport program called Own the Podium. The purpose of the program was to aid Canadian athletes to reach medal finishes in the Vancouver Olympics.

This sporting system was designed in a way in which Canada could come together to fund its athletes. The federal government increased its funding by $21 million annually for the five year period prior to the games. The funding aimed to improve Canada’s athletes success through preparation, technology, research and development and human performance research.

The program also focused on the development of sports organizations, coaches and leaders which are often overlooked in sports.

MacInnis believes that the principles of such programs such as Own the Podium are what New Brunswick needs in order to be successful. Added money not only helps build athletic facilities but also can employee experienced coaches.

“There is a lot of emphasis put on facilities. Don’t get me wrong they are important. But what is equally important is to look at people too. If you don’t invest in good coaching then you can have all the facilities you want, but it doesn’t matter. I don’t want to take anything away from parents and volunteers who put a lot of time in but in order to grow sport, but to have high caliber athletes then we need coaches who can be coach’s fulltime.”

New Brunswick was the only province to not contribute to the Own the Podium.

While some were quick to criticize the Federal Governments initiative to give so much money to athletes, many cannot argue with the results.

“Skating is a very expensive sport. There’s no way you could do it without help from your country,” said gold medal ice –dance winner Scott Moir in an interview with CBC.

“I could honestly say that I would not have this thing in my hand without the Own the Podium program, quite simply,” Moir said, holding his medal.

While some of the attention has been about helping high performance athletes excel in their sport. Côté and MacInnis both believe that encouraging the province’s youth to get active is equally important.

Many argue that money should be spent on health care in the province rather than on Sports.  However, Côté believes by investing in sport, the province could save money on health care in the long run.

“Spending your money on health care is not getting the source of the problem. If you give money encouraging people to be active, then you’ll save money down the road.”

The provincial sport plan in the proposed commission has research stating that a government investment of $1 in sport returns average savings of $3 – $41 in health and social costs in the long run.

 “We are one of if not the most unhealthy provinces. Obesities rates are high. More funding gives more kids the chance to play and gets them active at a young age,” said MacInnis.

Roughly 38 per cent of New Brunswick kids are currently either overweight or obese

The need for a more active province has become even more alarming as the Heart and Stroke Foundation recently ranked New Brunswick as the 10th worst of Canada’s 13 provinces and territories for people who live a lifestyle that leads to heart disease and stroke. 

If the New Brunswick government continues to cut funding for its Sports and Wellness departments then the province will continue to not only lose the few high-level athletes it has but it will also have to deal with climbing obesity rates.

As for Côté, he hopes to maybe one day return to the province he grew up in but only if the province begins to show some initiative to help its people.

“I wouldn’t rule out a return to New Brunswick but they have a lot of work to do. If the province continues to not invest in what they have, then people will continue to leave. “

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Posted by Brandon Wile on Mar 17, 2010. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.