Mr. Chair, first let me congratulate the hon. member for his presence in the House and also for his contribution to Canadian sport through the development of the recognition of mountain biking and broader cycling activities into the Olympic Games, as well as into high performance sport. I think his contribution to this development in Canada is well recognized. It gives me great pleasure to work with him on an issue that is so important to both of us.
The hon. member raises a very good point about the estimates and the $50 million that is shown for this particular item to be reduced in the budget next year. The reason for that appearing in the estimates at this time is that the $50 million was a three year sunsetted program which ends this fiscal year and so the extra $50 million must be restored in next year's budget. I would like to assure the hon. member that I am making representations that this will be continued as a very important support for our sport system in the country.
I would just like to say one other thing in terms of the inspiration that the hon. member has made in his sport's career along with other high performance athletes and reflect on Athens and our Olympic team. I talked a little bit previously about our Paralympic team but the Olympic team had 264 members and 80% of those world champions came in the top eight in the world in the summer Olympics in Athens. This was extraordinary.
I think on a per capita basis there are very few countries in the world that had such a large Olympic team. The funding question that was asked is very important. Funding is essential to ensuring that at the end of the day we have high performance athletes who can perform as world champions, which they are, as I mentioned earlier.
Another indicator of the level of development of a country is the ratio between men and women on their Olympic teams. I am proud to say, although it gives me some misgiving, that there are more women on our Olympic team than men. So, gentlemen, start your engines.