October 13, 2004 – The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) expressed support for the Martin government’s announcement earlier today of a $19.1 million investment in Canada’s high performance sport system.

“We welcome the injection of an additional $19 million into the sport system to support high performance athletes and coaches,” said Chris Rudge, COC chief executive officer. “We also urge the government to make this permanent, sustainable funding for the future as part of the annual federal budget for sport.”

Rudge said the COC also had some specific recommendations to discuss with Minister of State (Sport ) Stephen Owen regarding the long-term needs of the high performance sport community to help Canada achieve success at upcoming Olympic Games and other international sport competitions.

“In the next few weeks, I’ll be discussing with Minister Owen the COCís recommendations for the proposal he is intending to bring forward to Cabinet very soon,”said Rudge.