John Diefenbaker and the Fitness and Amateur Sport Act of 1961

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John Diefenbaker and the Fitness and Amateur
Sport Act of 1961
Required Don Macintosh, Tom Bedecki and C.E.S.
Franks, Origins of Bill C-131, in Sport and
Politics in Canada (Montreal McGill-Queens,
1987), pp. 10-29.
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Familiar questions

• What and how did it happen?
• Who were the leading players, and what stamp did
  they give to the developments? What did others
  do?
• What was the social and economic context, and how
  did it enable and constrain the developments?
• What does the scholarship say?

3
Long narratives

• The efforts to harness the regulatory and
  taxation powers of the state to regulate and
  provide opportunities
• Within the school
• Within municipal parks and recreation
• Through the provinces, e.g. Ontario Athletic
  Commission, BC Pro Rec
• Today through the federal government

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Early attempts at the federal level

• AAU Reconstruction Committee (1919)
• Hugh Plaxtons proposed sports ministry (1936)
• Youth Training Act (1937)

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The National Physical Fitness Act

• An outgrowth of the agitation for public
  recreation stimulated by the depression
• Inspired by the successful example of BC Pro-Rec,
  and the shrewd lobbying by Jan Eisenhardt and
  George Weir for federal funding for the training
  of recreation leaders under the Youth Training Act

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The National Physical Fitness Act

• An outgrowth of the agitation for public
  recreation stimulated by the depression
• Inspired by the successful example of BC Pro-Rec
• Advocated by organizations like the Canadian
  Association of Health, Physical Education and
  Recreation (1933), the national physical fitness
  movement of the late 1930s, and the League of
  Nations

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The National Physical Fitness Act

• An outgrowth of the agitation for public
  recreation stimulated by the depression
• Inspired by the successful example of BC Pro-Rec
• Advocated by organizations like CAHPER, the
  national fitness movement, and the League of
  Nations
• Necessitated by wartime rejection rates
• Brokered as an inexpensive alternative to
  national medical insurance

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The National Physical Fitness Act

• Created a National Physical Fitness Council, with
  powers to
• Extend physical education in schools
• Train teachers
• Organize sports on a national scale
• Provided 250K annually, 225K to be distributed
  to the provinces in conditional grants
• Jan Eisenhardt became first director.

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The National Physical Fitness Actfoundered

• Once the war was over, pressure for fitness
  disappeared Liberal government uninterested
• National fitness leaders embarrassed the Liberal
  government over inadequacies
• Poorly drafted legislation created conflicts over
  authority between Council and government
• Provincial opposition/concern
• The federal-provincial agreements were allowed to
  lapse in 1951 the Act was repealed in 1954.

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So why FAS just 7 years later?

• Continual behind-the-scenes agitation by Doris
  Plewes in Health and Welfare, and Plewes-inspired
  address by the Duke of Edinburgh to the Canadian
  Medical Association

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So why FAS?

• Continual behind-the-scenes agitation by Doris
  Plewes in Health and Welfare
• Shrewd lobbying by Sport Federation of Canada
  (1951)

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So why FAS?

• Continual behind-the-scenes agitation by Doris
  Plewes in Health and Welfare
• Lobbying by Sport Federation of Canada
• Change of government

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So why FAS?

• Continual behind-the-scenes agitation by Doris
  Plewes in Health and Welfare
• Lobbying by Sport Federation of Canada
• Change of government
• Declining Canadian performances in international
  competition, brought home by television, in
  context of Cold War

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So why FAS?

• Continual behind-the-scenes agitation by Doris
  Plewes in Health and Welfare
• Lobbying by Sport Federation of Canada
• Change of government
• Declining Canadian performances in international
  competition
• Growth-led creation of Canadian welfare state,
  including Canada Council, and spread of
  federal-provincial programs

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Enter John Diefenbaker
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Government Programs in Physical Recreation,
Fitness, and Sport in Canada - 1934 to the
Present A Geology Chart Pro-Rec- 1934-53
Unemployment and Agriculture Assistance Act-1937
Alberta-1938
Saskatchewan-1939
Youth Training Act 1939
Manitoba-1939
National Physical Fitness Act 1943
Canadian Sports Advisory Council - 1951
Repeal - NPFA 1954
Physical Fitness Division Consultant
Fitness and Amateur Sport Act 1961
Sport Canada 1970
Recreation/Fitness Canada 1970
Other Programs
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Fitness and Amateur Sport Act 1961

• Lobbying by Sport Federation of Canada and
  fitness interests
• Change of government
• Declining Canadian performances in international
  competition, especially against USSR in hockey,
  dramatized by television, in context of Cold War
  
• Growth-led creation of Canadian welfare state
• Example of Ontario Athletics Commission

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For Prime Minister Diefenbaker

• Successful sport teams were essential for
  international legitimation sport plays an
  important role in the struggle for the hearts and
  minds of men.

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Fitness and Amateur Sport Act

• Enabled responsible minister to
• Make agreements with provinces
• Make grants to sports bodies
• Assist Canadians competing in international
  competition
• Train coaches
• Provide scholarships
• Fund research
• Recognize achievement
• Created a National Advisory Council but powers
  were strictly limited
• Initial allocation was 5M

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Long narratives

• The effort to harness the regulatory and taxation
  powers of the state to regulate and provide
  opportunities
• The tensions between high performance sports and
  mass participation, sports and recreation, sports
  and fitness
• The tensions created by equity
• The challenge of linking needs of sports and
  physical activity to broader agendas
• The conflict with other priorities
• The challenge of reconciling federal, provincial,
  regional, cultural, etc. differences

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Questions

• How can we periodize the 42 years of the Fitness
  and Amateur Sport Act?
• What were the major watersheds? Achievements?
  Failures and disappointments?
• Who were the most significant leaders?
• What circumstances shaped this history?
• Why did the federal government replace FAS with
  the Physical Activity and Sport Act of 2003?