Quebec: Competing Under the fleur-de-li??

So it has come up, thanks to Quebec Premier Jean Charest, that Quebec wants to, by 2022, compete in the Olympics under the Fleur-de-li.

When i first heard this story i initially thought it was another separatist motion out of Quebec. But upon further research i have found out that it seems to be more so Quebec saying "we actually put an effort into the development of our athletes from an early age. Why would we want to team up with the other 8 provinces and 3 territories when they don't put in the effort we do?"

For this i don't blame them. Quebec puts the effort into developing it's amateur athletes. Foundations such as SportsQuebec have led the way in this aspect in Quebec. They have created sports centers that promote athletics/sports for amateur athletes; in Quebec they care about amateur sports. No other Province puts even close to the amount of effort they do in Quebec.

Only now has the rest of the Country started to realize this, and with the incorporation of the "Own the Podium" they have shown an effort, albeit a small one. It took Quebec born/raised athletes winning near 50% of the medals in both Salt Lake City and Lillehammer before Canada decided to develop "Own the Podium" before the Turin Winter Games. So it is no fluke that many of the medal winners here in Vancouver were French Canadians, it was directly related to this dedication towards development that this Province shows.

Only in Quebec do you see amateur sports taking the lead on sports channels, the headlines are filled with the feats of amateur athletes. Here in Vancouver you would have to push and pull to have amateur sports in the first few pages of the local/provincial papers. We would rather talk about millionaires competing in sports for a paycheck.

While the young men/women out there on their own striving for some sort of funding, can train and work and still bring home medals or even just make it to the Olympics, which has been lost in everything as a major feat in and of itself!

Except in Quebec. In Quebec Olympic athletes are the celebrities. They are supported and encouraged through everything they do, win or lose. Instead our support goes to the professional athletes who already have everything.

All i can hope is that the past 2010 Vancouver Olympics brings forth the amazing work amateur sports can do for this country, and we make an effort to support this lifestyle.