Olympic champion kayaker Adam van Koeverden steps to helm of Canadian sport
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.
Thursdays
Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter.
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.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
Canadian 3x3 pioneer Michelle Plouffe leaves behind basketball legacy greater than gold
Michelle Plouffe's athletic career might not have ended with an Olympic gold medal. But the Canadian basketball star's legacy may be even rarer than that vaunted accomplishment: she built an Olympic team from scratch — and will continue to oversee its growth. After a run that included a trio of Olympic basketball appearances for Team Canada, Plouffe is moving onto the next phase of her career as high performance director for Canada Basketball's 3x3 program. "I think I was just ready to close a chapter, and it seemed like the right time just based off of where I felt like I was at mentally and physically. I didn't really have the urge to play another season," said Plouffe, the 32-year-old from Edmonton. "When there were conversations about hiring someone on with the 3x3 programs, I was like, 'Well, that could be a good fit just to continue working with 3x3 and continue to build on the foundation that we have.' So yeah, it kind of seemed like God's timing." Still, Plouffe admitted it might be weird when a team featuring two former teammates — sister Katherine Plouffe and Paige Crozon — compete at the 3x3 World Series stop beginning Thursday in Bordeaux, France. In 2019, alongside Katherine Plouffe, Crozon and a rotating cast of teammates, Michelle Plouffe helped spearhead Canada's 3x3 program from the ground up. After two Olympic appearances with the five-on-five team, she felt her time there had come to an end. Meanwhile, she was training in Edmonton with Steve Sir, who was just latching onto 3x3 on the men's side. Plouffe told Crozon her plans to leave the senior squad. As it turns out, Crozon had also had the idea of 3x3 put into her head. They brought in Katherine Plouffe, a plan was born and a goal was set. "We started off with a bang, went big. We didn't say, 'Let's try and make a 3x3 team and play in a tournament.' We said, 'Let's try and qualify Canada for the Olympics,'" Plouffe said. "So it was a pretty lofty ambition, but I think that when you put something big out in front of you're going to be fully committed and do everything it takes to get there. And so that's kind of what we did." The only problem? They'd have to pay for it all out of pocket. For a year, they doled out for flights to Europe and Asia, where they'd play World Series events that didn't even offer prize money. It wouldn't have been sustainable for more than a year, Plouffe said. But the team believed, and it just kept improving. "I don't know how to explain why we thought we could just start a team and make it to the Olympics. But at the end of our first season we were one of the best teams in the world," she said. However, Plouffe and Co. weren't even given the opportunity to play at Tokyo 2020 due to a quirky FIBA rule that meant only Canada's men's team could attempt to qualify. "Obviously that was a huge bummer, but it's what it needed to be," Plouffe said. The team then grew into a dominant force, winning a pair of World Series titles and two World Cup medals. And in 2024, it finally reached the promised land in Paris. Despite entering those Games among the medal favourites, a disappointing fourth-place finish, also featuring Kacie Bosch, did not dampen the team's spirit. "We enjoyed each other's company. In 3x3 you're travelling with four people. It's a small group. So if one person is not willing to be part of that group, that's a quarter of your team. So it really requires every individual to be an adder and not a subtractor of the group," Plouffe said. "And so we've always just had a lot of fun, but we've always had a lot of trust in each other that we're just going to show up and do our best." Giving back to the game Now, she'll try impart that wisdom on the next generation. "Coming from someone who knows how the game is played, knows what to look for and maybe from experience knows what a program now needs to build on that foundation, I think that it made sense to continue to add value in that way and then be a part of the men's program as well," Plouffe said. The next step for 3x3 in Canada, she said, is to increase the sport's prominence across the country. Plouffe said five-on-five and 3x3 aren't mutually exclusive, citing her experience in the latter assisting her while she was still competing in the former. "It's such a fun game and it's super unpredictable. I think it's also just a lot of fun. It's not as structured as five on five. So I think there's just a lot of opportunity for players to be creative and grow and have an experience in a high-performance environment," she said. Of course, there's also still the matter of that first Olympic medal for the program. And while it won't be draped around Plouffe's neck whether it comes at Los Angeles 2028 or decades later, there's no doubt that she will have played a large part in earning that hardware.
Edmonton Journal
2 hours ago
- Edmonton Journal
Carson Jerema: I want Canada to become a part of Alberta
Article content EDMONTON — Alberta is the best province in Canada. Despite relentless efforts by the federal government to kill the oil and gas industry, the province remains the wealthiest (per capita) in the country. The fact that energy companies earn growing, often record profits is not, as Liberal boosters claim, evidence that Ottawa is not targeting Alberta. It is, instead, evidence that markets find a way, and a reminder of how much more wealthy all of Canada would be if the federal government just ended its onslaught. Article content Article content Instead of Alberta separating from Canada, a better solution would be for Canada to join Alberta. By this I don't necessarily mean moving the capital from Ottawa to Edmonton, and I don't necessarily mean I want Alberta to annex the rest of the country, but Canada should become more like Alberta. Article content Albertans pay zero provincial sales tax, enjoy the lowest income and corporate taxes in the country, as well as among the lowest regulatory burden in Canada. Markets find a way in the province because, by and large, government gets (relatively) out of the way and regular people get to keep more of the money they earn. Having lived in Manitoba and southern Ontario before moving to Edmonton in 2013, there is a noticeable culture of individualism here. Even in the somewhat socialist-friendly city I live in. Article content It is an attitude that is more open to business, to hard work, and more skeptical of government solutions and infringements on personal liberty, or unnecessary intrusions into the family. Central Canadians may look at Premier Danielle Smith as a kooky extremist. People here are more likely see her as the sensible moderate. Yes, there's liberal and left-wing opposition in this province not only to the government, but to the culture and ethics that make this place great. But unlike elsewhere in Canada, they do not hold the de facto 'correct' position in the province. Article content Apart from a few spasms during the pandemic, Albertans are generally more tolerant of other opinions. Even the NDP is (nominally) pro-oil. So instead of leaving Canada, or trying to convince the rest of the country to leave us alone, Albertans need to do a better job of convincing other Canadians that our way is the superior way. Article content
Toronto Sun
3 hours ago
- Toronto Sun
Taiwanese boxer Lin agrees to gender test for world championships
Lin Yu-ting and Algerian boxer Imane Khelif were embroiled in a gender row at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where they both won golds Taiwan's Olympic boxing gold medallist Lin Yu-ting will undergo compulsory gender testing before the world championships in Liverpool, her coach told AFP. Photo by MOHD RASFAN / AFP TAIPEI — Taiwanese Olympic champion boxer Lin Yu-ting will undergo compulsory gender testing ahead of the world championships in Liverpool next month, her coach told AFP on Thursday. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Lin and Algerian boxer Imane Khelif were embroiled in a gender row at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where they both won gold medals in different weight classes. World Boxing said on Wednesday that women wanting to compete at the World Boxing Championships in Liverpool would have to undergo 'mandatory sex testing' under its new policy that took effect the same day. 'They announced that everyone must submit, so we will submit as well,' Lin's coach Tseng Tzu-chiang said. 'If you want to compete you have to follow the rules of the competition. Since we are participating, we will go by their rules.' Under the new policy, athletes over 18 who want to participate in a World Boxing-sanctioned competition need to take a PCR, or polymerase chain reaction genetic test, to determine their sex at birth. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Lin and Khelif both fought at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. There was no controversy at the time and neither won a medal. The pair were excluded from the International Boxing Association's (IBA) 2023 world championships after the IBA said they had failed gender eligibility tests. However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) allowed them both to compete in Paris, saying they had been victims of 'a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA'. Both went on to triumph. Neither Khelif nor Lin are transgender women. Both were born and raised as women, which is how they are registered on their passports. World Boxing will organise the boxing competition at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics after being granted provisional recognition by the IOC. Check out our sports section for the latest news and analysis. Columnists Sunshine Girls Sunshine Girls Toronto & GTA Toronto Maple Leafs
