Canada's Olympic chief calls for sports funding boost as medal target missed

MILAN, Feb 22 : At a Games that delivered fewer medals than Canada hoped for, the country's Olympic chief David Shoemaker delivered a pointed message to Prime Minister Mark Carney: if the nation wants to remain a winter powerhouse, it must invest like one.

Canada's target at Milano Cortina was to surpass the 26 medals won at Beijing 2022. But they will leave short of that benchmark, with a chance to finish with 21 at most — a result that has sharpened calls for an increase in funding.

"It was just a month ago that Prime Minister (Mark) Carney made international headlines with his inspiring speech at Davos (World Economic Forum)," Canadian Olympic Committee Chief Executive Shoemaker said at a press conference on Sunday. 

"In that speech, he talked in large part about ambition, about the strength of Canada at home and the values we can and should project to the world. We realise sport isn't the answer to all of this government's many urgent priorities. 

"But to Prime Minister Carney, who addressed Team Canada in a hockey jersey, who called Team Canada athletes as they topped the podium this week, who believes as much as anyone in the power of sport, I would say this: Sport is an integral part of that strength of character and country. 

"Sport represents a set of values that define us. Through sport, we have a real opportunity, if not a responsibility, to be ambitious about how we want to show up as a nation, both on the world stage and in communities across the country."

NO NEW MONEY FOR SPORT

The COC, Canadian Paralympic Committee and the country's national sport organisations had hoped for a $144 million increase in funding from Carney's first budget on November 4 to offset two decades without a significant boost.

Instead, the