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Mississauga Council Endorses New Sport Plan and Establishes Committee to Prepare Bid For 2016 Ontario Summer Games

MISSISSAUGA, July 18, 2013 – This month, Mississauga City Council endorsed the City’s first Sport Plan. In addition, Council endorsed the recommendation to form a bid committee to prepare a submission to host the 2016 Ontario Summer Games in Mississauga.

“We are on our way to have a roadmap for sports in Mississauga,” said Mayor Hazel McCallion. “We need to continue working with the Mississauga Sports Council and our community sport organizations to realize the economic and healthy lifestyle benefits of sport. We now have a plan for it!”

The Mississauga Sport Plan will be the five-year strategic plan for the City to work more closely with community sport organizations and with the Mississauga Sport Council to make better use of capacity in existing sport facilities to encourage lifelong participation in sport and physical activity for residents of all ages, interests and abilities. According to the corporate report, the Sport Plan’s 40 recommendations focus on seven areas:

  1. Sport Leadership – Share leadership and investment in implementing the Sport Plan collaboratively with key stakeholders in delivering sport opportunities in Mississauga;
  2. Sport for All – Develop programs, services and funding that include everyone and reduce barriers for those who want to participate in sports;
  3. Sport for Life – Increase participation in and understanding that quality sport and physical activity provide life-long benefits;
  4. Celebration & Promotion of Sport – Actively promote sport and celebrate athletes, volunteers and organizations’ sport achievements;
  5. Building Capacity of our Sport System – Increase participation capacity and long-term sustainability of programs and services that community sport organizations provide;
  6. Sport Tourism – Recognize Mississauga as a sport event-friendly city and sports tourism destination; and
  7. Sport Infrastructure – Make sure that sport facilities meet community needs and are allocated fairly and equitably.

“This is an exciting day for sports in Mississauga,” said Ward 4 Councillor and Sport Plan Steering Committee member Frank Dale. “We now have a comprehensive plan that will support a sustainable sport system and enhance the quality of life for our residents. I want to thank the Task Force on Sports, the Sport Review Team and our stakeholder organizations for collaborating on this plan. We need everyone’s leadership at the table to continue to build on Mississauga’s capacity to provide diversity and opportunity for everyone to enjoy sport in our city.”

As a next step, an implementation team of Mississauga Sports Council members, City staff, community sport organizations, Peel Public Health and school boards representing diverse community interests and perspectives will be formed. The team will help to prioritize and identify leadership and specific actions for each of the plan’s areas of focus. Recommendations that need funding will be considered by Council in future budget submissions.

“This plan recognizes that sport provides the opportunity for everyone at every age and stage of life to be active and healthy for life,” added Ward 3 Councillor and Sport Plan Steering Committee member Chris Fonseca. “We need to build on the capacity we have now and this plan gives us the platform on which to build new capacity for new opportunities in future.”

As an example of an initiative that falls in the Sports Tourism area of focus, Council endorsed that a “conditional letter of intent” for the City to host the 2016 Ontario Summer Games (OSG) be submitted. OSG, an Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport program, is Ontario’s largest multi-sport event with up to 32 team and individual sport competitions that is delivered over a four day period every two years by the Sports Alliance of Ontario with host municipalities.

“Very few municipalities have the capacity for sports that we have in our City,” said Ward 5 Councillor Bonnie Crombie. “This is our opportunity to build on our experience in hosting successful tournaments and for our community’s youth and volunteers to be involved.”

For more information about Mississauga Sport Plan, contact Jodi Robillos, District Manager, Recreation Division at ext. 5127 or mailto:Jodi.robillos@mississauga.ca. For more information about the conditional letter of intent and bid submission for the 2016 Ontario Summer Games, contact Jason Klomp, Manager, Sport at ext. 5345 or mailto:Jason.klomp@mississauga.ca.

Background:

In preparing the Sport Plan, City staff reviewed best practices, incorporated sport community feedback, input from the Sport Plan Steering Committee, positive response from public online feedback and the public open house. Mississauga Sports Council reviewed and endorsed the plan, and the plan also considered the Mayor’s Task Force on Sport recommendations.

Council appointed Ward 3 Councillor Chris Fonseca, Ward 4 Councillor Frank Dale and Ward 5 Councillor Bonnie Crombie to be Council representatives on the City’s 2016 Ontario Summer Games Bid Committee along with representatives from staff and the Mississauga Sports Council, Mississauga My Games and Mississauga Toronto West Tourism which will be tasked with preparing a bid submission for the games.

A “conditional letter of intent” expresses the City’s interest and is not a formal commitment to host the games. Council will consider the bid submission by April 2014 based on the committee’s assessment of the opportunity. The estimated overall operating event budget is $1.6 million. Of that, the City’s direct contribution is $228,000 to cover the cost of a general manager and logistics staff to co-ordinate the game with the balance coming from funding, grants ticket sales and registration fees.

As Canada’s sixth largest city, Mississauga is home to 741,000 residents and 55,000 businesses, including 63 Fortune 500 companies with Canadian head offices or major divisional head offices. A diverse, progressive and award-winning municipality located on the shores of Lake Ontario in the heart of the Greater Toronto Area, Mississauga is “Leading Today for Tomorrow” by focusing on delivering services, implementing its Strategic Plan, delivering value for money and maintaining infrastructure.

 

Media Contact:
Dolores Bartl-Hofmann,
Senior Communications Advisor, Community Services
Corporate Communications
City of Mississauga
905-615-3200 ext. 5051
dolores.bartlhofmann@mississauga.ca
TTY: 905-896-5151