Olympic champion kayaker Adam van Koeverden steps to helm of Canadian sport

Winnipeg Free Press

2 days ago

Olympic champion paddler Adam van Koeverden is the latest politician to step into the leadership of sport in Canada.
The MP for Burlington North-Milton West in Ontario was appointed Secretary of State for Sport when Prime Minister Mark Carney announced his first cabinet last month.
Van Koeverden, winner of Olympic gold and three more medals in kayak sprints, follows a succession of people overseeing the federal sports portfolio over a decade of Liberal government.
'Most of those ministers of sport had something else on their portfolio, whereas I am uniquely focused on sport, which provides clarity of mandate,' van Koeverden said Monday in a phone interview.
'It's very, very obvious to me that Mark Carney values sport. He brings up sport regularly in his speeches, even when he's not talking about the (Edmonton) Oilers.'
Given van Koeverden's background, the government had him involved in sport as soon as he was elected an MP in 2019 as parliamentary secretary to sport ministers for six years.
The 43-year-old is now in charge of the file that's coming to grips with what's been called a safe-sport crisis by predecessors, and one in which national sports organizations are pleading for an increase in core funding.
Whether his title was secretary or minister, Van Koeverden says he can keep the spotlight on sport on Parliament Hill.
'I want to ensure that sport is prominent, and is a big part of our government's plan to protect and build up Canada,' he said.
'We were just elected last month to do a bunch of things, not the least of which is protect our national identity from Americanization and from people who are suggesting both from south of the border and within our border that we ought to be more like our southern neighbours.'
Sport Canada remains under the Heritage umbrella and Minister Steven Guilbeault. Van Koeverden says he and Guilbeault both have the power to approve Own The Podium funding recommendations.
OTP makes recommendations, based on medal potential, directing roughly $80 million per year to Olympic and Paralympic winter and summer national sports organizations.
'Steven and I am a good team. We've been working together for years,' van Koeverden said. 'I was parliamentary secretary when he was Minister of the Environment and Climate Change. There's never going to be any light between us on any file.
'When a sport question arises in the House of Commons, it's me. When there's a project that needs to be done with Sport Canada, it's me. When we're discussing grants and contributions with sport in Canada, it's me.'
Guilbeault, Kirsty Duncan, Pascale St-Onge, Kent Hehr, Terry Duguid and Carla Qualtrough (twice) all rotated through the leadership of the federal sports portfolio over the last decade.
The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport is currently absorbing the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner (OSIC), which was established in 2022 by St-Onge.
The Future of Sport in Canada Commission, announced in Qualtrough's second stint, is ongoing and will produce a final report and recommendations next year.
The commission's mandate under Justice Lise Maisonneuve is to make sport safer and improve the sport system overall.
'I'll be one of the people here in Ottawa implementing some of those recommendations,' van Koeverden said.
Van Koeverden worked on getting athletes raises in their monthly 'carding' money, or Athletes Assistance Program, in 2017 when he was the vice-chair of the Canadian Olympic Committee's athletes commission, and in 2024.
Some athletes now say they're using that extra money to cover training and competition costs their national sport organizations can no longer afford.
The Canadian Olympic and Paralympic committees are jointly lobbying on behalf of 62 NSOs for a $144-million annual increase in core funding, which is at 2005 levels.
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Core funding, separate from OTP money, is what NSOs count on to fund operations, athletes, coaches and support staff.
A Deloitte survey of NSOs concluded they're cutting back on competitions, training camps and development of next-generation athletes.
'It's definitely true the national sport organizations need more money,' van Koeverden said. 'We need to make sure that they are able to engage with corporate Canada and generate a little bit of own-source revenue. We also want provinces to contribute as well to some of the NextGen, some of the pre-Canada Games opportunities, some of the provincial opportunities.
'We're working really hard to make sure that we increase the amount that's available. Not every dollar that should go into sport ought to come from the federal government, but we've demonstrated real leadership on that at the community sport level because we've invested about $75 million into community sport in the last couple of years.'
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 2, 2025.