Sport becoming an election issue By ALISON KORN

With the 2010 Vancouver Olympics looming, sport needs a bigger presence in Parliament.

That athlete-driven message -- a call to create a cabinet minister position solely responsible for sport, instead of relegating it to a junior portfolio -- was heard yesterday as all four national political parties pledged to consider the concept.

For the first time ever, candidates from the Conservatives, Liberals, NDP and Greens showed up to present their platforms on sport and physical activity to an audience of about 100 Canadian Olympians, Paralympians, and national team athletes at an athletes' conference in Mississauga. Only the Bloc Quebecois was a no-show.

"Sport is a priority right across the political spectrum," said Ian Bird, senior leader of the Sport Matters Group. "It came out loud and clear. All of them agreed to consider a minister for sport."

This is the first election campaign for which every national party has articulated a vision for sport.

Delegates included Alex Baumann, Olympic gold medallist and executive director of Road to Excellence, and Canadian athletes Benoit Huot (swimming), Perdita Felicien (athletics), Malcolm Howard, Iain Brambell, and Kevin Light (rowing).

"I thought the debate was quite interesting," Baumann said. "And what better timing than the Games in 2010 in Vancouver to actually get a sport minister and get the political will that we need to move the sport system forward."

Athletes and politicians agreed that support for sport must go beyond elite athletes, down to the community level to impact kids and families.

The parties are all taking a different approach. The Liberals want to invest $3 billion to renew and expand sport and recreation facilities. The NDP has committed to investing in bike lanes and walking trails and would invest the equivalent of 1% of the health care budget towards amateur sport facilities and programming, which Bird calculated at over $500 million.

The Greens, represented by candidate Grace Yogaretnam from Mississauga-Brampton South, pledged $500 million.

And the Conservatives, who've increased funding for sport from $160 million to $335 million during their reign, plan to extend the benefits of the Children's Fitness Tax Credit so that parents who pay little or no tax would have the costs of their children's sports registration covered by the credit.

"That is an important step towards reducing one of the financial barriers to participation and family involvement in sport," Bird said.

In a panel debate that got testy at times, NDP candidate in Etobicoke-Lakeshore, Liam McHugh-Russell, criticized Simcoe Grey Conservative Helena Guergis, the Secretary of State (Sport), for doing nothing to help women's ski jumping get included in the 2010 Olympics.

STOOD UP

"You haven't stood up to the IOC on this issue," McHugh-Russell charged.

"That's ridiculous," Guergis shot back. "I met with the parents. I met with the ski jumpers' advocate, their lawyer, the president of the COC ... I've been to 20 countries in the past year and every opportunity I get to speak with the sport ministers, I raise this issue."

Liberal candidate Rodger Cuzner, a former hockey coach and physical education teacher, travelled from Cape Breton, N.S. He believes in the power of sport to inspire:

"Sidney had Mario, Mario had Wayne, Wayne had Gordie," he said.