Proud to be Canadian

After failing to win a gold medal in the first two Olympic Games hosted in Canada (the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary) – we became the only country to have hosted multiple games without winning a gold medal at home.

Determined to make changes – a Canadian umbrella sport technical program was launched in January 2005.  This program was named – OWN THE PODIUM – and was designed to better prepare our athletes for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

The OWN THE PODIUM program relied on support from the corporate sector, government, sports federations, performance partners and the athletes themselves.  All worked together to create and fund a strategy that would get our athletes to the top of the podium.  The program planned to improve Canada’s success rate through increased participation, preparation, technology, R & D, and human performance research. The results speak for themselves – Canada won a record 14 gold medals at the 2010 Vancouver Winter games. Canadians coast-to-coast rallied behind and were proud of our Olympic athletes.  

This week senior leaders from our Electrical Council gathered for an Industry Summit. We rallied together and addressed industry and association challenges that we currently face such as industry consolidation and a tough economic climate. We all take pride in being part of a Canadian association.

I left the Summit knowing the engagement and enthusiasm of these senior leaders combined with EFC staff will produce a formable team to take on these industry challenges and continue to be an association that is Canadian.  Together the electrical industry will create its own “Own The Podium” program.