‘Next Gen’ athlete program to get $10M funding boost from feds, COC, CPC pledge fundraising to match

Playground to podium has served as a mission statement of sorts for federal Secretary of State for Sport Adam van Koeverden since being named to the position in 2025.

To date, much focus has centred on promoting sport participation — the playground — and Olympic-level athletes — the podium.

Now, the in-between will get a boost, too.

The federal government announced Thursday it is doubling its investment in the Next Gen program from $5 million to $10 million. In addition, the Canadian Olympic Committee and Canadian Paralympic Committee have committed to raise matching funds through the private sector and donations.

Altogether, it would represent a four-fold boost for the program, taking effect this year.

Canada’s Next Gen program, which was founded in 2017, focuses on athletes whose development has exceeded the community level but has not yet reached the elite level.

A total of 535 Canadian Next Gen athletes have competed at the Olympics and Paralympics, combining for 118 medals, including 31 across both Milano-Cortina Games. More than half of the Canadians competing and medals won in Italy came from athletes who went through the Next Gen program.

“Through this innovative partnership with the private sector, we’re bringing new investment into Canadian sport to support the next generation of Team Canada athletes. Every time an Olympic or Paralympic athlete competes, they wear the maple leaf on their jersey or the Canada name on their back. They represent all of us, and we’re making sure they have what they need, from playground to podium,” van Koeverden said in a statement.

Sitting volleyball Paralympic bronze medallist Heidi Peters said the Next Gen program has been crucial to her team’s success.

“These funds support us being able to practice in our hometowns between competitions and training camps. For athletes working towards the Paralympic Games, this funding helps elevate their training so they’re ready for the next step,” Peters said in the release.

The potential private-sector aspect of the increased investment may be a sign of things to come, too, following energy company Capital Power’s $25-million conditional partnership deal with Alpine Canada.

With the government re-investing in sport, corporate Canada as well as philanthropists could be incentivized to jump back in as well, knowing that their dollars could go potentially twice as far.

“The Playground to Podium program is a smart way to do it because you’re essentially saying, look, corporations, if you want to step up or, associations, go get the funding, we’ll find ways to match that incremental funding to allow the team to continue to perform,” Capital Power chief corporate officer Ferio Pugliese said.

Federal government announces $60M in additional funding to national sports organizations

This latest round of funding for Next Gen athletes follows a $60 million boost to national sport organizations from the federal government that was announced earlier in October.

The feds also funded sports infrastructure through the Build Communities Strong Fund, through which it has dedicated millions of dollars to national training centres for basketball and soccer, the rehab of Calgary’s Olympic speed skating oval and more.

Catherine Gosselin-Despres, the Canadian Paralympic Committee’s chief sport officer, called the Next Gen funding “essential.”

“Continued investment is critical to create opportunities for athletes to succeed on the world stage, and this additional funding will allow more athletes to receive the resources they need to achieve their goals, such as coaching, equipment, classification, and competition opportunities,” Gosselin-Despres said in the release.

The topic of sport funding will continue to be discussed Nov. 9-10 in Ottawa, where van Koeverden has organized a national sport summit expected to include hundreds of people ready to share ideas on how to continue moving the sector forward.