Historic Meeting
by Don Longwell
On Friday August 25 at the Can-Fit-Pro conference, a small group representing the primary health/fitness providers in Canada met privately with Michael Chong, President of the Queen’s Privy Council, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and Minister of Sport.
Those attending the meeting other then the Minister and accompanying staff: Dave Hardy, President of FIC (Fitness Industry Council of Canada)Clem Pelot, President of CPRA (Canadian Parks and Recreation Assoc.), , Michael Weil, President of YMCA Canada, John Frittenburg, one of Canada’s leading health/fitness consultants and Don Longwell, publisher of Fitness Business Canada. As Can-Fit-Pro hosts, Rod Macdonald, Vice- President of Can-Fit-Pro, and David Patchell-Evans, President of Can-Fit-Pro also attended.
The purpose of this meeting was to assemble representatives of the major health/fitness/recreation sectors to review the federal government’s agenda in support of healthier more active lifestyles for Canadians. In particular, we were ,collectively, interested in advocating for the new tax credit proposal. It is in the interest of all fitness providers that this tax credit apply to fitness club memberships. The meeting also provided an opportunity for Dave Hardy, President of FIC which advocates for the commercial clubs in Canada, to speak to their postcard lobbying campaign which has had great success in enlisting support from club members throughout the country in support of the tax credit legislation.
For the first time, significant representation of the commercial fitness sector was present at a meeting with senior government officials where the collective interests of all sectors was discussed. The meeting purpose was achieved. Indeed, all sector representatives participated in the Canadian Forum held later in the day which was open to all registrants attending the Can-Fit-Pro conference. (See Canadian Forum report in FBC November)
The ‘on the ground’ fitness providers represented by the three main industry sectors, commercial, public and charitable, demonstrate an unsurpassed, collective power and ability to change the behaviour of Canadians seeking healthier more active lifestyles.
A further result of the meeting with Minister Chong was the directive from him to link up with ParticipACTION officials. While no public announcements have been made at this date, news that ParticipACTION is about to be revived (check ParticipACTION is Back in this newsletter) is expected soon. Such partnering is to be a key focus of the new ParticipACTION.
A next step could be a more involved summit meeting of all fitness sectors in support of their common cause. If so, some attention to the differences which exist may need to be addressed. Not-for-profit organizations and for-profit organizations are two different cultures, often suspicious of each other’s motives. It might be worthwhile to examine why these differences exist and how they might be resolved.
Fitness Business Canada and FitNet publications are serving all health/fitness providers and remain in support of each sector. We will continue to report on these issues and to support the partnering of all sectors with government agencies supporting the common cause of a healthier more active Canada.
Your views on these issues are welcome.
Don Longwell
Editor and Publisher
Fitness Business Canada
FitNet Monthly newsdon@fitnet.ca
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