Racing versus Recreational boating

We want to clear up the myth that all the Whitewater Ontario money goes to slalom.

There is zero support for paddlers wishing represent Canada twice at world championships. There is NO support for slalom other than a paid national coach and 12 carded athletes nationally.

All the young paddlers that we are trying to support are all paying 100% of costs (or their parents are) Last year WO did provide some funding for travel assistance but minimal (ie less than $5,000) which is far less than the funds WO spent to fight legal battle for rec water access, far less than WO spent on MInden preserve as a recreational facility and far less that WO spent on intro courses for recreational paddlers.

On the other hand...

Those recreational boaters pay their own way every where they go (no grants or charity) unlike the slalom boaters. there is no carding or any thing of the sort and many of them did the tour for the worlds last year on there own dime.

If the tail race of the pump house were promoted to river runners and play boaters, a little more interest or maybe a little membership money might be forthcoming.

If there where only 300 slalom boaters , and all the recreational paddlers that pay their own way and have a population 100 times that of slalom were gone there may actually be fall out on the slalom side, for example:

1. The slalom boaters would be buying their retro paddling gear from someone in europe and paying much more for it.

2. Trail head, Bustaucka ,MEC, The paddle shack, and boatwerks could not exist on the revenues of 300 slalom boaters canada wide alone.

So recreational boaters, have no one to pay the bills for them, they don't bother looking to see how much revenue slalom has brought them.

In conclusion:

The tax dollar of all canadians is what floats slalom teams trips and existence is not correct either however.

Recreational boaters are canadian citizens who are mostly all tax payers. How many of the funded athletes that are under the age of 18 and paddling all over the country and world actually work and pay taxes that they can't get back at the end of the year.

However I find it hard to understand how in event of failure, paddlers will blame WO, when they don't even belong to WO. They can't have it both ways. If they want WO to be a voice for paddling, they should sign up and support the association. That being the case, we should ensure we get maximum visibility and use this issue as a way to prove to these freeloaders that the association is working on their behalf and there is a benefit to membership

There is local interest in changing the way water is released down the Gull system. It current seems that the new guy has been doing a poor job and local frustration has been growing more than ever. Things have been worse lately regarding water levels and that fits with the growing concerns locally. This effort to get changes is very likely to be successful under the current conditions. There currenlty is plenty enough to do but we should be looking into this more thoroughly. If this finishes with a change that isn’t good for the Gull and we haven’t participated we’re going to be in a real bad place with the paddlers who use the Gull.

Whitewater Ontario