Our Saskatchewan Riders didn’t win the cup, as so many of us hoped. Thank goodness hockey season has arrived to take our attention away from the wounds.

Nevertheless, looking back, 2014 was an eventful year in Canadian Sports, one that showcased the excellence of our athletes at the Winter Olympics and Commonwealth Games, where Canada ended in the top three medal standings, winning 32 gold medals and 82 medals in total.

As a follow-up to 2014, His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, has proclaimed 2015 to be the ‘Year of Sport’ in Canada. In celebration of the role that sport plays in our country, the ‘Year of Sport’ will encourage Canadians to participate in, and seek the benefits of, sport.

In 2015 Canada will host several high-profile national and international sporting events, including the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Junior Hockey Championship, the 25th edition of the Canada Games, the FIFA Women’s World Cup and the 2015 Pan American Games and Parapan American Games.

The ‘Year of Sport’ will focus on making the most of these events to highlight the advantages of sport to all Canadians. 

Our Conservative Government is proud to be the largest single investor in Canada’s amateur sport system, supporting participation and excellence from the playground to the podium.  To inspire the benefit of sport in children, our Government delivered the Children’s Fitness Tax Credit to help offset the costs of registration in sports programs.  Recently, our Government doubled the maximum expense that can be claimed to $1,000.  Parents get back 15% of this at tax time.  We also announced the credit will be refundable starting in 2015. (This tax credit is in addition to the children’s art tax credit – see below.)

Meanwhile, our investment in the Canadian sport system is at an all-time high.  Through the Athlete Assistance Program, every year $28 million in funding goes directly to approximately 1800 athletes, giving them the help they need to pursue their world-class results.  The Sport Support Program provides about $146 million to Canadian sport organizations to strengthen our national sport system and benefit our athletes and coaches.  And the Hosting Program provides about $20 million annually to assist Canadian communities who host world-class sport events.

The ‘Year of Sport’ will be an important opportunity to raise awareness of the health benefits that sport provides, while also showing what an important driver it is to Canada’s economy.  As any athlete will say, sport has the power to enhance our lives.  As families, volunteers, local sports clubs and associations come together, let’s celebrate 2015 as the ‘Year of Sport.’

Meanwhile, here in the Yorkton-Melville constituency, let’s appreciate that our long Saskatchewan  winter gives us good opportunity to enjoy our National sport, whether suiting up and playing, helping youngsters learn to play, or by cheering as our teams play.

For more information on the children’s fitness tax credit, go to www.cra.gc.ca/fitness. (For the children’s arts tax credit, which applies to activities like music education, please visit www.cra.gc.ca/artscredit/)

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