Question Period Note: Funding for the Athlete Assistance Program and the Next Generation of Canadian Athletes

The Athlete Assistance Program (AAP) provides direct financial support to over 1800 Canadian high performance (carded) athletes, across more than 94 sport disciplines. A fund of $5 million on-going has been established to support the Next Generation of Canadian Olympic and Paralympic athletes.

• The Government of Canada committed to investing in current and next generation Canadian Olympic and Paralympic athletes so that they may perform at their best.
• The Athlete Assistance Program is a grant program that offsets living, training and education costs so that our athletes can remain in high-performance sport.
• Next Generation funding, matched by the Canadian Olympic Committee and Canadian Paralympic Committee through their respective foundations, supports coaching, training environments and invests in sport science and sport medicine services for up-and-coming high-performance athletes.

The Next Generation Initiative (NGI) includes $5 million – matched by the private sector. NGI funding is designed to address issues in the following areas:
• The coaching of Next Generation athletes addresses the individual requirements of athletes, as opposed to providing them with generic coaching programs.
• The Daily Training Environment of Next Generation athletes needed to be improved as these environments were not always appropriate for this group. These athletes have specific needs that were not being met, such as access to appropriate facilities, appropriate competition level, and/or adequate training partner(s)/group(s), to name a few.
• The Sport Science and Sport Medicine (SSSM) services and interventions in the training and competitive environments needed to be made accessible to Next Generation athletes. These services and interventions also needed to be adapted by SSSM professionals to balance Next Generation athletes’ needs and circumstances given their high levels of performance, and their physical and mental growth and maturity.
The AAP provides direct financial support to more than 1800 Canadian high performance (carded) athletes, across more than 94 sport disciplines.
• Over 250 of these athletes are Paralympic athletes. Carded athletes receive funding for living and training expenses and are eligible for tuition support to further their education.
• The gender breakdown of the AAP athletes is approximately 50/50.
• The total annual funding for this program is $33 million.
• As part of the Budget 2017 announcement, the living and training allowance budget increased by $4.25 million per year (17.7% more), from $24 million to $28.25 million. Senior cards were increased to $1,765 per month, up from $1,500 previously. Development cards were increased to $1,060 per month, up from $900 previously. There was no expansion or change to eligibility.
• Budget 2017 also included a tuition support increase of $250,000 per year (10%), rising from $2.5 million to $2.75 million. The maximum tuition support per athlete per year was increased from $5,000 to $5,500.
• The budget for supplementary support was increased from $1.5 million to $2 million per year in Budget 2017. This increase affected the funding for the Child Dependent Allowance which was increased by $250,000 per year to meet the demand from expanded eligibility to all carded athletes as well as the funding for Paralympic athletes for the Training and Competition Allowance for Athletes with a Disability which increased by $250,000 per year.

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