VICTORIA - The Province is continuing its strong support for the work of British Columbia’s Provincial Sport Organizations (PSOs) by providing them with more than $9 million in funding for 2011/12, Community, Sport and Cultural Development Minister Ida Chong announced today.
This latest round of funding will allow the sport organizations to serve the needs of grassroots sport in every B.C. community, as well as developing British Columbia’s best athletes and coaches, enabling PSOs to build their membership and upgrade the high-quality programming they provide across the province. PSOs include sports as diverse as swimming and netball, soccer and wheelchair basketball, gymnastics and football.
Since 2005, the Province has given unprecedented support for sport through funding to PSOs and other organizations (such as the BC Games Society) and through gaming grants that flow to community-based sport organizations.
All of this funding supports the Province’s vision of sport as a critical tool for building active and healthy British Columbians, strong families, and vibrant and engaged communities.
While British Columbians lead Canada in physical activity, work remains to be done in increasing the proportion of citizens - children, youth, adults and seniors - who participate in organized sport and gain the physical, mental and social benefits associated with this activity.
On-going financial support from the Province is critical to PSOs continually expanding their membership to achieve these greater goals.