Sport Council of Red Deer (SCoRD) Questions
The following are questions posed by the Sport Council of Red Deer (SCoRD), for all candidates of the 2010 Red Deer Municipal election.
- Do you think sport and recreation matter to Red Deer residents? If elected, how would you influence this?
- The provincial government has talked about making investments to improve infrastructure and sport in this province. What will you do to insure Red Deer is not left out when the province is partnering with municipalities to accomplish these goals?
- The vast majority of Canadians believe that sport and recreation can make a positive contribution to the development of youth and the quality of life in our communities. But fewer then 1 in 5 believe that community sport is living up to its potential. How will you address this?
- Access, affordability and availability of sport and recreation programs and facilities are important to communities. As we see municipalities around us address this issue for families, children and seniors, where does this fit in your priorities for the next 3 years?
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Sport Council of Red Deer
Reply from Gail Parks Candidate for re-election.
This will be my second attempt to answer, as my first long response disappeared into cyberspace.
1. I know it matters to all our residents. What I don't know is what sports are most important and what does recreation look like to our residents. I want to follow your direction, if we don't use tennis courts, why would we build them, on the other hand, if skate board parks are today's favourite, that is where we should go.
2. I will continue to voice my concerns at every opportunity when speaking with our MLAs, and did so, at the recent Premier's Dinner. I fully support the advocacy from city hall, and would like to see that expanded.
3. By supporting groups such as Sport Council of Red Deer.
4. I will tell you that MY priority is sports & recreation, but when looking for a balanced budget that may not be the best way to fit all the needs of the community.
While this is short it is not meant to be disrespectful, I just want to give a snapshot of what I feel is direction for the city.
Yes I think recreation is
Yes I think recreation is very important and I will continue to advocate on behalf of recreation.
I will continue to have conversations like last night @ the Premiers dinner with Premier Stelmach and Minister Danyluk (Infrastructure) and and Minister Lloyd Snelgrove in charge of the Treasury for the province. These gentlemen are very important in influencing what happens and we have to ensure they are aware of our needs.
I believe our youth are finding it easier to play video games than skate @ the outdoor rinks in the winter, or kick a ball around in the summer. I have been involved as an in school mentor for the past (4) four years and the young gentleman I mentored did not seem to have an interest in these activities until we started doing them. I believe we have to get the kids involved although I know that the cost for kids with single parents is very difficult as it was for my little guy, but the health benefit cannot be measured.
We recently had a fee schedule review as you may be aware and the costs had not increased for (7) seven years, a recommendation was made and it seemed reasonable and was adopted. The Public told us @ Council that it was wrong. Within weeks it was brought back and hopefully we have it right now, my committment to the Sports Council is that I will always react quickly and appropriately to help assist in insuring that all people have access to recreation.
Dianne Wyntjes Reponse to Sports Council of Red Deer
Thanks for the questions! Here's my response.
- Dianne.
Dianne@DianneForRedDeer.ca
1. Do you think sport and recreation matter to Red Deer residents? If elected, how would you influence this?
1. Sports and recreation is important in our city; it's also a health issue. There are many ways that municipalities can be involved in promoting and enhancing opportunities for sport and recreation. We can use sports and recreational opportunities to breathe new life into mature neighborhoods and downtown areas, for example! Red Deer could do what other cities are doing, such as hosting and promoting downtown street hockey tournaments. We must ensure that access to facilities such as the Dawe, Recreation Centre, Michener Centre or Collicutt Centre is affordable and accessible. Working with others, if elected, I will be looking for innovative ways to keep fees manageable, while looking for additional ideas to subsidize seniors, AISH recipients and low income households to encourage healthy activity. I like the idea of a "citizen appreciation day" or "discount day" for citizens and families to use the recreation facilities. City sports and recreational programs should be actively encouraged by city councillors and City staff, as we promote our terrific sports and recreation sites.
2. The provincial government has talked about making investments to improve infrastructure and sport in this province. What will you do to insure Red Deer is not left out when the province is partnering with municipalities to accomplish these goals?
2. The best way to be on top of new grants and subsidies is to look, listen, and adapt. I will keep myself aware and informed about topics and discussions in the provincial Legislature, as well as being in tune with budget announcements (just as I do for personal interest now). It is important that elected City of Red Deer officials continue the relationships necessary with government staff to ensure Red Deer is out in front. When dealing with large-scale capital projects and federal or provincial funding, it’s crucial to understand what the government’s intent is with each grant. As many British Columbia towns and cities discovered during the past winter Olympics, there are strings attached to federal and provincial funding for sports and recreation projects. We need to be able to understand what the expectations are, adapt as necessary, and lobby for the city-specific changes we would like to see.
3. The vast majority of Canadians believe that sport and recreation can make a positive contribution to the development of youth and the quality of life in our communities. But fewer then 1 in 5 believe that community sport is living up to its potential. How will you address this?
3. The biggest obstacle for many parents looking at sports, recreational, and summer programs for children has become the financial one. Sadly, there are many kids who may want to participate but they can't due to the financial barrier. Organized youth hockey is but one area where prices have risen to the point where it can be too large of a burden for a multi-children family. While there is little the city can do about the prices of equipment, we can continue to support swap programs, and work with committed City individuals and organizations to give as many Red Deer kids a chance to participate. Active parents, volunteers, and sponsors do a great job in making sports and recreation accessible to kids, but we need to think about what our City can do more of. I'm reminded of older neighbourhoods with their community ice rink: but not all our neighborhoods have that luxury. In Edmonton and Calgary, some community rinks have faced closure due to the financial constraints faced by community leagues and organizations. We can help bolster community sports needs by seeking corporate and community partners for sponsorships, support and resource sharing to build new facilities and keep existing ones open. For instance, citizens, businesses or organizations could sponsor rink boards and skate shacks to add to the revenue and upkeep support.
4. Access, affordability and availability of sport and recreation programs and facilities are important to communities. As we see municipalities around us address this issue for families, children and seniors, where does this fit in your priorities for the next 3 years?
4. Large scale facilities such as the 50 metre pool can’t simply be built for professional swimmers. We need to ensure that public facilities are built with the broader public in mind. We must also not lose sight that there are maintenance and upkeep costs of our pools. Reasonable and regular scheduled access for seniors, students, and families needs to be first and foremost, with training and competition access built around regular access for regular people. I support amateur sports with facilities that encourage participation from all walks of life, and I believe that this can be done. I am hopeful my idea of "discount day or cheapskate day of the month" can be adopted for some of our recreation facilities.
Sports Council of Red Deer Questions
1. The Collicut has only been here for around 10 years, and it is booked daily, year round. The green spaces around Red Deer are continually being used by soccer, rugby, and football teams. The arena's are so booked that some teams go out of town to have ice time. Recreational sport teams are taking children at a younger age than in the past decade. In turn there is more sport team opportunities for the seniors in Red Deer. I do think this matters for our community. The proof has just been stated. If elected , I can work with the city to help promote these activities within our schools and to our community.
2. /3. Red Deer Public has been begging for a new school for many years now. Some of our schools are full past their capacity. Some districts have been offered schools through a P3 program. [ Public, Private , Partnership] . We have a wonderful example how partnerships can be successful with the G.H. Dawe . That facility has a public school, a separate school, and a recreational facility all under one roof. The government is wanting to make new school duel purpose facilities. I truly believe that adding on a sports complex to our school makes it also more of a community project and responsibility. Our school district needs to work with the city on more of these facilities to benefit our community. Red Deer public schools have won awards for our nutrition policy. This helps promote healthy students. I think we need to do more to help promote active students as well. Smaller community around Red Deer are building recreational facilities, eg. the sports plex at Penhold and the football field in Lacombe. Red Deer needs to catch up with its population and interest in sports.
4. Our schools have a user pay program for our sports teams. But we also have the fee waver program for those students that cannot afford to play. Each individual school sets up their own guidelines as to how much each sport cost. I have some idea's on what I think needs improvement on our sports programs. First and foremost, I believe every child should have the opportunity to be on a team. This means we need to supply the resources to allow each middle and high school to not only have a competitive team but also a non competitive team. What kind of message are we sending our children if we are telling them that unless you can make the 'A' team, you can not play. In most of our schools they allow every grade 6 child that comes to the practices and then to the games to participate. Then at grade 7 and 8 , these students will be asked to try out for a team. If they do not make the teams in those grades, their chances of making it on a high school team are very grim. Is this fair? Is this right? I feel we need to provide more resources to our schools for their sports programs so they can have more than one team in any sport of there are enough students that are wanting to play. I believe we need to have qualified coaches for these students. We would not have someone teaching our students math 30 that was not qualified. Since our sport team are an after school event, we cannot receive funding for the adults that volunteer their time and talents. I don't agree with this. We have before and after school drama and band classes that receive funding from Alberta Education, why wouldn't sports fit into this. I am going to influence a positive change in this.Sports are one way of keeping our kids in and active at our schools. I also feel our elite teams could use more support. When was the last time a college scout came to one of our high school basketball games? Our students receive scholarships in academics, music, and the arts. But I feel we are missing out on the scholarships for physical participation. I mentioned this passion of mine in the Advocate paper and I will continue to fight for this .
Dianne Macaulay.
Sports - like the arts - vital in so many ways!
Thanks so much for posting some questions about sport!
#1
Sport is important on so many levels - it is critical to a strong community. From recreation to highly competitive sport participants gain physically and emotionally. Volunteers and coaches also gain through their participation and our community benefits too. When I think back to the volunteer effort to host the 2006 Alberta Summer Games, I remember realizing just how much our community had grown by hosting that event. For sure the athletes benefit, but community members who volunteered were benefactors too. In the end, as a community we saw our "human capacity" grow - leadership skills were developed and friendships were made and a whole bunch of kids made great memories. For me, sport is about personal development.
If re-elected I will continue to be a strong advocate for sport and recreation. For me, the most important role I can play at the council table is ensuring that others see the full picture of how sport benefits all of us from a community development perspective. There is so much more to sport than winning or losing!
#2
As Alberta's 3rd largest city we need a strong advocacy strategy on the infrastructure front. We need to be working with our sport groups to voice our community needs together to ensure our City gets its fair share of funding.
#3
In my opinion, one of the factors that likely influences those perceptions the most is participation. Our sport programs are not available to all who would like to participate (perhaps due to cost, transportation, and time commitment). It would be interesting to understand this statistic in more detail - likely more participation opportunities in neighbourhoods would change this.
#4
My colleague Larry Pimm coined a phrase that I really like in a recent discussion of recreation fees and charges. He said, really we should be trying to build a "culture of participation" in our city where people become fans of participating not just watching. He thought they should become accustomed to participating in everything and anything. In order to accomplish this we need to really think hard about user fees. Is it possible to have one swim pass that buys a swim any where in the city? What if recreation costs were lower? What does it take to get more users? There are costs to lowering our prices, but there are also costs when people cannot participate because it costs too much money. I realize that many people in our community can afford recreation at the prices today and even if they were higher, what concerns me is the fact that we have people in our community who have barriers to participation as a result of our fees and that should not be. Everyone should have access and they should not have to give up their dignity to get it.
Jeffrey Dawson - Sport Council
Thank you to the Sport Council for getting involved with the election process.
1) Yes sport and recreation matters to Red Deerians. If elected I will continue to be an advocate for our sports facilities, parkland and open spaces. As your councillor I represent your wishes and the public supports our current emphasis on sport and recreation.
2) As a councillor previously I have had good working relationships with our MLA's and many other MLA's throughout the province. I would utilize those connections to make sure the provincial government is aware of our needs when new funding arrangements present themselves. In addition I propose to become significantly involved with the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA), it has been my experience from the past that being involved at this level enables our city to be on the leading edge when it comes to programs as the AUMA is usually quite involved with the creation of these type of programs. We will not be left out when the province is partnering with municipalities.
3) This is a Canadian wide statistic. I would like to see how Red Deer is doing because I think Red Deer does more than many municipalities. I think Red Deer does an excellent job in promoting sport and fitness.
4) You are correct in stating that access, affordability and availability of sport and recreation programs and facilities are important. Red Deer has affordable rates for everyone and if people cannot afford these fees we have a program in places which waives fees for children. Providing quality recreation opportunities at affordable rates will be a priority of mine during the next term of council.
For more information, please visit www.electdawson.com.
Jeffrey Dawson
Chris Stephan - Sports and Recreation
As a strong supporter of active living, sports, and recreation, I am happy to address these questions:
For more information about my platform, please visit: www.votestephan.com
Chris Stephan - for City Council