The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) and the Canadian Paralympic Committee (CPC) have made an urgent call for a $104 million annual increase in sport system funding, saying the financial health of National Sport Organisations (NSOs) has become very precarious. Without a budget or stability, athletes and their performances will naturally suffer significant setbacks. "This is something that is really needed in the sport system," said Kerry Dankers, CEO of Biathlon Canada.

"Stability is something that athletes really need as a foundation for performance. Stability is also very important when it comes to providing accessible, safe and inclusive sport, and all of that can happen when the system is properly funded," said the Biathlon Canada CEO, who was appointed to the position in January.

"It is important that Canadians are aware of the situation of the sport and the NSOs in Canada. Biathlon is one of the sports that has seen a decrease in funding in this country in recent years, and that is expected to continue," said the former member of the Canadian Olympic and National Speed Skating Team, who also competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.

The cause of this budget shortfall is linked to inflation over the past two decades. The committees argued that the significant gap has been exacerbated by 19 years of inflation since the last increase in the sports funding budget in 2005 (almost $20 million), the expiration of specific funding for editions ($57 million) and the cost of additional stakeholder demands on NSOs ($27 million).

According to the World Bank, inflation in Canada has been above 2% annually for the past two decades (except for two years when it was below 1%), with peaks in 2021, 2022 and 2023 of 3.39%, 6.80% and 3.89% respectively. 

This unusual inflation in the North American country is the worst in the last 40 years, and exacerbates the problem if budgets are not updated. If each year is taken as the starting point for the new average inflation index for the following year, and this annual inflation is capitalised, the figures show that inflation has reduced real incomes by more than half.

Naturally, as the cost of living continued to rise and budgets were frozen, organisations began to accumulate operating deficits. A Deloitte study reported a grim five-year forecast showing that NSOs will accumulate a collective deficit of about $134 million.

The committees found that 90 per cent of NSOs rely on federal funding from organisations such as Own The Podium, through Sport Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee, to deliver programmes and services, as reported in Outlook.

Funding from Own The Podium comes in the form of rewards or prizes for performance-based results at major sporting events such as the Olympic Games, Paralympics and World Championships. The distribution of money is based on the likelihood of success, which can lead to inequity and, in particular, low levels of sponsorship for new athletes as their performance in terms of results is uncertain.

Canada has 56 Olympic and Paralympic NSOs and five Pan-American Sports Organisations. The NSOs and committees stress that the lack of funding will also affect the development of sport across the country. Many athletes will end up paying their travel expenses to compete abroad each season and this will affect results as they will not be able to devote their full time to achieving athletic success.