Ten days ago, La Presse devoted a series of reports to the following question: Is Montreal still a great sports city? In response, Conseil du sport de Montréal president Danièle Sauvageau and vice-president Richard Legendre answer the question.
On May 29 and 30, the sports community gathered for the fourth edition of the Sommet du sport de Montréal. The event featured 7 panels, 9 conferences and 2 workshops, on the themes of accessibility, professionalization, sports events and the promotion of an ethical and caring culture in sport. Just over 250 people turned out at the complexe sportif Claude-Robillard to discuss issues and solutions to meet the challenges facing the sporting community.
After these two days, there's no doubt that Montreal is a great city for sport. The question now is, is Montreal a great city for sport? In our opinion, the answer is not so obvious.
After two difficult years, the city's sports event scene is flourishing, with Montreal winning the title of Canada's top city for sports events in the first three years of Sport Tourism Canada's index. Building on its Olympic heritage, Montreal has carved out its place as a sports hub across Canada. Today, the city's professional sports scene, by all accounts, pales in comparison to many other North American cities. Is there anything at stake - certainly?
However, when we talk about a great sports city, we have to stop simply looking at these components and start with the basics. There are over 350 sports clubs on the island of Montreal, enabling tens of thousands of young and not-so-young people to practice a multitude of sporting disciplines. First and foremost, this is what sport is all about: physical activities that enable citizens to be healthier, create social bonds and a more cohesive community.
In fact, the City of Montreal has implemented a policy of recognition and financial support for regional sport at the end of 2022. Generally well received by the community, the Montreal sports ecosystem is currently concerned about the lack of any announcement regarding the budget that will be allocated to this new policy.
It is important to note that the financial envelope to support these regional sports organizations has not been increased or even indexed for 27 years. In order to support these organizations, the Conseil du sport de Montréal has submitted a formal request to increase this financial support envelope by $2.3 million annually. Without falling into cynicism, this request from the sports community seems reasonable given the City of Montreal's annual budget of $6.7 billion.
If we want to pride ourselves on being a great sporting city, if we want to host major multi-sport games again, it's time for decision-makers to stop praising sport and start funding it. Montreal's sporting community needs a major overhaul, and the current administration has a historic opportunity to act.
This additional financial support will help regional organizations and the athletes they serve. This will take a variety of forms, including: maintaining the level of accessibility to sport in the region, retaining and training coaches and officials, professionalizing structures, etc. As far as the Conseil du sport de Montréal is concerned, this funding will enable the organization to fully play its role as a leader and provide the support it needs to the organizations it represents. Naturally, the Conseil du sport de Montréal will provide this support in the form of services and programs that complement those of the Ville de Montréal and other multiservice organizations in Montreal.
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Danièle SauvageauPresident of the Conseil du sport de Montréal, Associate Director, Pôle sports HEC, CEO and Head Coach, Centre de field hockey de haute performance 21.02 and Olympic coach who won the Canadian women's field hockey team's first gold medal.
Richard Legendrevice-president of the Conseil du sport de Montréal, associate director of the Pôle sports HEC Montréal, former executive vice-president with the Montreal Impact and former minister responsible for sports.
