Invest in Canada's Kids: Make Youth Sport Affordable and Build Better Pathways for Canadian Athletes.

Canada does not have a shortage of talented young athletes. We have a shortage of affordable, properly funded pathways that allow that talent to develop.

Across Canada, parents are spending thousands of dollars every year on club fees, provincial programs, equipment, coaching, travel, hotels and tournaments just to keep their children involved in competitive sport.

For many families, the problem becomes even greater when their child succeeds.

A young athlete can work for years, earn a place on a provincial team and be selected to represent their province, only for their family to face another major bill simply for them to participate.

Talent should determine who gets the opportunity to represent a province or Canada. A parent's income should not become a second selection process.

Canada's athletes have already shown what is possible.

In 2026, Canada's men's national soccer team made history at the FIFA World Cup, earning Canada's first men's World Cup win and advancing into the knockout rounds for the first time. Canada's women's national volleyball team also qualified for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, ending a 32-year absence from Olympic women's indoor volleyball.

These athletes prove that Canadian talent exists. We need to build a stronger system underneath them.

I am calling on the Government of Canada and provincial and territorial governments to work together to:

Create meaningful financial assistance for children participating in organized sport, with additional support for athletes selected to represent their province or territory.
Ensure that public sport funding actually reduces costs for athletes and families.
Require clear public reporting showing how taxpayer-funded sport organizations spend public money and what outcomes that funding produces.
Establish appropriate coaching standards as athletes progress to competitive and provincial levels, including qualifications, continuing education, safe-sport requirements and demonstrated competency.
Create transparent athlete-selection and conflict-of-interest safeguards, particularly when coaches have family members participating in the same program.
Invest in recruiting, training and retaining qualified coaches rather than forcing competitive programs to rely entirely on whoever is available to volunteer.
Build stronger pathways connecting community sport, clubs, provincial programs, universities, national teams and sustainable professional opportunities in Canada.
Volunteer coaches and parents are essential to Canadian sport. This is not an attack on volunteers. A qualified parent can be an excellent coach. The principle should simply be that the higher the level of competition, the higher the standard of coaching and accountability should become.

Youth sport is not just entertainment.

It develops physical and mental health, discipline, resilience, teamwork, confidence, leadership and community.

Governments spend enormous resources dealing with social problems after they develop. We also need to invest upstream by giving young Canadians structure, opportunity, mentorship and something meaningful to work toward.

Our children are Canada's future workers, leaders, entrepreneurs, professionals, coaches, parents and community builders.

Investing in them is not charity. It is nation building.

Canada has the talent. Give our young athletes the opportunity to develop it.

Please sign this petition and ask Canada's federal, provincial and territorial governments to make youth sport affordability, qualified coaching, accountability and athlete development a national priority.