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Posted on Dec 3, 2013 in Business & Politics

Local Ottawa sensor technology offers solutions to rising concussion concerns

Local Ottawa sensor technology offers solutions to rising concussion concerns

By Kiran Rana and Philippe de Montigny When ten-year-old Cameron slammed head first into the boards during a hockey game, his coach and father Scott Clark thought nothing of it. “He had hit his head going into the boards but said he was fine and looked fine, so we let him back on the ice,” said Clark, a former e-commerce entrepreneur. It wasn’t until they returned home after the game that Clark realized his son was far from fine. Cameron started violently throwing up and after he was taken to the hospital it became clear to Clark his son had suffered a concussion. Within days of that experience, Clark co-founded Impakt Protective, an Ottawa-based company working on a helmet that should make it easier to detect concussions. Clark’s partner is his friend Danny Crossman, a former army bomb disposal officer with the British Military – and contractor for the United States Marine Corps – who had done previous work with helmet sensors for soldiers. Founded in 2010, Impakt creates...

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Posted on Dec 3, 2013 in Business & Politics

Heritage committee gets last Olympic update before the new year

Heritage committee gets last Olympic update before the new year

By Fangliang Xu The Russian government is intentionally delaying entry visas for some Canadian athletes in the leadup to the Sochi Winter Olympics, a parliamentary committee has heard. “We have already seen some gamesmanship,” Peter Judge, the CEO of the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association, told the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, describing some of the delays as “malicious.” “For example, the access to training, or even just getting a visa into the country, is extremely difficult,” Judge said. The committee heard from representatives from the bobsleigh, skeleton and ski teams today. In addition to Judge, the committee heard from Don Wilson, the chief executive officer of Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton and Curtis Lyon, the chairman of Ski Jumping Canada. Wilson said athletes’ parents are also affected by the Russian government’s stonewalling on timely entry visas and are uncertain they’ll be allowed into the country and fear that access to the Games will be limited upon arrival. “Is there anything that can be done at a government level...

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Posted on Dec 3, 2013 in Business & Politics

Anti-doping funding a temporary fix

Anti-doping funding a temporary fix

By Beatrice Britneff and Emanuela Campanella Recent federal funding for Olympic anti-doping measures has come under fire from opposition New Democrats who say the law-and-order Tories haven’t gone far enough to crack down on performance enhancing drugs. “It’s only a couple of months until the Games, so I think that’s something important to keep in mind … it does sort of seem like a publicity stunt,” said Matthew Dubé, the NDP sports critic. Last month, the federal government and the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic committees announced a combined one-time contribution of just under $1 million to the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport—an independent, non-profit organization working to detect those who use performance enhancing drugs. The additional funding is meant to help strengthen the CCES’s testing and investigative capacities, with the ultimate goal of deterring and preventing athletes from doping. “Testing alone isn’t sufficient,” said Jeremy Luke, the director of the CCES’s anti-doping program. “We need to have mechanisms in place in order to gather information and create a...

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Posted on Dec 3, 2013 in Business & Politics, Featured

Ski season underway, but is it here to stay?

Ski season underway, but is it here to stay?

By Roberta Bell and Sarah Turnbull Early snowfall “takes some of the pressure off” the Ottawa area’s main ski resort, Camp Fortune, but owner Peter Sudermann says it doesn’t guarantee prime skiing throughout the season. Camp Fortune, in Chelsea, Que. just outside Gatineau, opened one of its 23 runs on Nov. 22 and two more last Friday. It will be open daily as of this Friday. The resort plans long-range, Sudermann said, but once ski and snowboard season begins, unpredictable weather patterns means ski conditions vary “week to week.” Last week, about 25 centimetres of snow fell, which gave people “the perception that everything’s open,” Sudermann said. “When they call up and you say, ‘Well, we have two lifts and it’s really three runs open,’ they kind of wonder what’s wrong.” The answer, Sudermann said, is nothing. It takes about 900 hours, or 38 days, of snowmaking to open all of the runs at Camp Fortune. “It is very much a science,” Sudermann said. During ideal cold and dry...

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Posted on Nov 26, 2013 in Business & Politics

Special Olympics athletes race parliamentarians to the finish line

Special Olympics athletes race parliamentarians to the finish line

By Ariana Armstrong and Kiran Rana It was a dash to the finish line as Special Olympics athletes raced against senators and Ministers of Parliament in an obstacle course set up on the lawn of Parliament at noon on Tuesday. The sporting event was part of Special Olympics Canada’s second Hill Day, which is held to lobby the federal government for increased funding for sport programs catered to children, youth, and adults with intellectual disabilities. The event also gave MPs and senators a chance to engage with Special Olympics athletes in a fun environment. Before the event began, Special Olympics athlete Caroline Joanisse said she felt good about the upcoming race. “I’m here to compete against the politicians,” Joanisse said. “I’m fast on my feet.” Sharon Bollenbach, senior vice president of sport and strategic initiatives for Special Olympics Canada, said that approximately 70 Special Olympics Canada representatives from across the country were meeting with MPs and senators in 133 meetings throughout the day. Bollenbach said Special Olympics Canada currently...

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Posted on Nov 26, 2013 in Business & Politics

Advertising and sponsorship revenue leads to tension at parks and recreation

Advertising and sponsorship revenue leads to tension at parks and recreation

By Ethan Cabel  Ottawa’s advertising and sponsorship program has failed to meet revenue targets projected to benefit the parks and recreation department, leading at least one influential councillor to call for an end to the initiative. The City of Ottawa approved the advertising and sponsorship program in 2011 as part of a concerted effort to generate private revenue sources, largely affecting parks and recreation facilities that are susceptible to advertising opportunities like naming rights and advertising contracts at hockey arenas. As part of a summary of risks, a recent budget briefing note on parks and recreation stated that “advertising and sponsorship remain a challenge to achieve.” It went on to identify “market conditions” and the “allocation of some sponsorship funds to facility enhancements” as main contributors to the problem. However, according to Councillor Peter Clark, vice chair of the standing committee on finance and economic development, the program has fallen far short of its projected targets because revenue opportunities are inherently limited. “We don’t need to spend that money...

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