FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 4, 2002
Ontario government to privatize sports funding
The Ontario government is poised to transfer responsibility for sports and recreation programs to an outside agency headed by former Tory cabinet minister Dave Johnson, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union has learned.
The Ministry of Citizenship, Culture and Recreation, which has responsibility for funding sports and recreation programs across the province, is negotiating a transfer of funding programs to Sport Alliance of Ontario, a private public relations organization.
Sport Alliance came under scrutiny last year for failing to fulfill its mandate as the “voice of sport” in the province. The ministry ordered an audit of the $1.7 million in government funds the agency already gets annually. That will swell to more than $30 million next year if the transfer is approved.
If cabinet approves the transfer this week, Sport Alliance will become the sole agency that doles out Ontario taxpayers’ money to hundreds of sports and recreation programs across the province for provincial games, athlete development, sports awards and recreation grants. More than 35 staff of the ministry could lose their jobs in
the process.
“This is a major policy change that’s just being sneaked by without consultation with the groups affected,” says former Olympic athlete Bruce Kidd, dean of physical education at the University of Toronto.
Leah Casselman, president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, said the privatization will endanger accountability for public programs and funding. “We fear what will happen to sports and recreation programs without any government accountability. Sport Alliance has a spotty track record.”
“Obviously, this is just a pork barrel to give Dave Johnson,” she said. Johnson, the former education minister who was defeated in the 1999 election, assumed the chairmanship of Sport Alliance last June.
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For further information:
Paul Bilodeau, OPSEU Communications 416/443-8888 Ext. 780; 416/766-3252 (h)
