Public Policy Agenda
Fitness Industry Council of Canada (FIC) is proud to be the primary defender and promoter of the Canadian commercial fitness industry across Canada.
Our public policy agenda is both defensive and offensive. We seek to prevent government(s) from doing things that are harmful to our industry, and to strengthen initiatives that will help grow our industry.
Our recent initiatives include:
Federal Children’s Fitness Tax Credit:
In 2006 before the Conservative Party of Canada became the current Canadian government, they outlined their plan to introduce a tax credit for Children’s fitness in their 2006 Federal Election Platform: entitled Stand Up For Canada. Before the Bill was introduced into law the Ministry of Finance set up an advisory panel headed by Dr. Keelie Leitch to determine which physical activities would qualify for the new credit. During this process FIC presented before the committee in order to amend the proposed legislation to include gym memberships.
By making these presentations, FIC was able to restructure the proposed credit to include the purchase of gym memberships as a taxable benefit. Having the Children’s Fitness Tax Credit implemented has been a win for the commercial fitness industry insofar as the tax credit is paving the way for the implementation of an Adult Fitness Tax Credit.
As the credit now stands, starting with the 2007 tax year parents can claim up to $ 500 per year for eligible fitness expenses paid for each child who is under 16 years of age at the beginning of the year in which expenses are paid.
A $500 federal Children’s Fitness Tax Credit provides a 15% tax credit (equal to $75), whereas a similar provincial tax credit would provide about a 10% tax credit (% varies by provincial tax rate = $50 +/-), for a total possible tax credit of $125 +/- (25%).
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Provincial Lobbying Efforts:
During the past five years, FIC has also continued to advocate for the extension of the federal Children’s Fitness Tax Credit on a provincial and territorial scale. With the belief being that the goal of achieving a federal Adult Fitness Tax Credit will be easier to obtain if the provinces and territories have already adopted the existing federal program.
Adult Fitness Tax Credit:
The Adult Fitness Tax Credit campaign began in 2006 by FIC with our www.AdultFitnessTaxCredit.ca website where supporters could utilize the site to send electronic postcards to their local MLA, The Minister of Finance and The Prime Minister of Canada indicating their support for an Adult Fitness Tax Credit. At the same time, over 1 million printed postcards were distributed to over 1,500 clubs across Canada for members to sign and then send to the Minister of Finance.
Following this campaign, FIC sought out secondary support to provide the Government of Canada with irrefutable evidence, indicating the Canadian public wanted an Adult Fitness Tax Credit and that there were definite economic benefits for the government to implement such a measure.
In March 2007, FIC commissioned Pollara Inc. to conduct a poll asking Canadians whether they would support such a program, with the result being that more than three in five Canadians supported extending the current federal Children’s Fitness Tax Credit to include adults.
With this evidence in hand FIC commissioned the Centre for Spatial Economics to produce an economic report outlining the Economic Benefits of an Adult Fitness Tax Credit. Completed in December 2007, the report displays the fact that the Government of Canada would save $2.5 billion dollars in net health-care costs if an Adult Fitness Tax Credit were to be implemented. Following the completion of the economic report FIC organized a national media campaign to release the findings of our economic study and the Pollara Poll.
Since the official launch of the Adult Fitness Tax Credit Campaign in January 2008, FIC has made significant gains in eliciting secondary support for the credits implementation. While the credit has not been introduced federally yet, FIC believes the credit is on the horizon.
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Adult Fitness Tax Credit Nova Scotia:
FIC is extremely proud to announce that the province of Nova Scotia enhanced their Healthy Living Tax Credit (January 2009) to include adults. This is the first credit of its kind in Canada.
With this stated the adult version of the credit was deferred for the 2009 year. To learn more about the status of the credit or to inquire how will can ensure the future viability of the credit, please contact FIC.
Adult Fitness Tax Credit Alberta:
The province of Alberta passed Bill 206 (2009) – A five hundred dollar physical activity credit for people of all ages within the province. The new credit was to be formally introduced during the 2009 provincial budget; however the credit was put on hold due to economic concerns. To help ensure that the credit is implemented FIC needs the support of of all clubs and members in order to ask the Government of Alberta to formally implement the credit. To learn more about what we can do, please contact FIC.
Harmonized Sales Tax, Ontario & British Columbia:
In 2009, the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia proposed radical changes to their existing tax structures. Included in both budgets was a shift from a Provincial Sales Tax system to a Harmonized Sales Tax structure that combines the 5% federal GST with the existing 7% Provincial Sales Tax in British Columbia and 8% Provincial Sales Tax in Ontario. Beginning July 1, 2010, personal training and gym membership sales will longer be exempt from charging the 7% sales tax in British Columbia and the 8% sales tax in Ontario – under the new legislation the full 12% and 13% tax will be levied.
The new tax burden on memberships will slow membership sales and increase membership attrition in an already stressed economy. Thus FIC has been working on a strategy to reverse this position, working closely with our government relations firm Sussex-Strategy Group; we have lobbied both provincial governments for a fitness exemption from the new tax, or the implementation of our No Age Limit Fitness Tax Credit.
In January 2010, FIC launched our new website and campaign to fight the HST fitness tax. The new website is designed to allow everyone to send an e-mail to the Premier, the Minister of Finance and your local Government Representative (MLA/MPP) for both Ontario and British Columbia.
In addition, FIC has asked Tom McCormack to amend our current federal economist report in order to tailor the report for lobbying purposes in Ontario, Québec and British Columbia. Tom is the current president of the Centre for Spatial Economics and is the author of our original economist report “The Economic Benefits of an Adult Fitness Tax Credit. The amended report was completed in November 2009 and has been used in our lobbying efforts in Ontario and British Columbia.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report was prepared by the Centre for Spatial Economics (C4SE) in November of 2009 at the request of the Fitness Industry Council of Canada. It builds on a report prepared by C4SE for the Council in December 2007 that estimated on a national scale the economic benefits, tax revenue gains and tax revenue losses that would occur if:
- The federal government was to extend the existing federal Children’s Fitness Tax Credit (that went into effect January 1, 2007) to Canadians of all ages.
- The federal and provincial governments were to implement an Adult Fitness Tax Credit.
This report reveals that the net benefits of a Fitness Tax Credit are significant in each of the three provinces considered here and are so regardless of whether the program is a federal and/or provincial one.
The cumulative net benefit of a fitness tax credit in Ontario over this period is:
- $960 million if only the federal government participates;
- $240 million if only the Ontario government participates; and
- $1.2 billion if both the federal and Ontario governments participate.
The cumulative net benefit of a fitness tax credit in British Columbia over this period is:
- $560 million if only the federal government participates;
- $250 million if only the British Columbia government participates; and
- $810 million if both the federal and British Columbia governments participate.
In all cases the health care cost savings can be expected to continue to increase each year beyond 2029 as the higher rates of physical activity prompted by the tax credit have an ever increasing cumulative impact on the physical fitness and health of Canadians at all age levels.
For more details on where we stand now, please contact FIC.
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Legislation
Consumer Protection Legislation:
FIC supports consumer protection legislation that safeguards the public against fraud, deceit and financial hardship while fostering and encouraging competition, fair dealing and prosperity in the fitness club industry.
For more detailed information, and to view FIC’s legislative reviews by province, please login to our secure website
Wellness/Health Promotion:
FIC leverages every opportunity to advance a proactive health and wellness agenda, actively supporting the tax credit/wellness legislation and physical education/wellness legislation, wherever feasible.
Automatic External Defibrillators (AED) – Proposed Ontario Legislation
While FIC supports AED’s and their results in saving lives, we will continue to work to ensure that any proposed legislation contains necessary liability protection – use and non-use – for club owners and their employees, reasonable staffing requirements, and adequate compliance time. FIC will continue to work to incorporate staffing requirement exemptions for unstaffed clubs into AED legislation.
Music Copyright Law:
Currently within Canada there are two non-governmental organizations which have been established to administer and license the rights associated with utilizing music: SOCAN (The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers) and Re:Sound (formerly known as the Neighbouring Rights Collecitve of Canada). Both agencies in Canada are regulated by the Copyright Board of Canada, an economic regulatory body empowered to establish the royalties to be paid for the use of copyrighted works.
SOCAN and Re:Sound are of interest to FIC insofar as they develop the framework for new Tariffs and fees to be paid by Canadian clubs for the use of copyright material. The Copyright Board of Canada itself ultimately decides if the Tariff is appropriate and binding.
Current Tariffs:
SOCAN currently has an approved tariff in place, which requires all fitness clubs in Canada to pay royalties under Tariff 19.
Proposed Tariffs:
On March 30, 2007, Re:Sound filed a proposed Tariff with the Copyright Board of Canada. Tariff No: 6, which if implemented would establish new fees for the use of music to accompany dance and fitness in addition to SOCAN’s existing tariff 19 fees.
Tariff No: 6 proposes to charge all Canadian fitness clubs $18.59 per member per year for the use of copyrighted music, retroactive to January 1st 2008.
News: FIC recently completed hearings on May 21st 2010, to oppose the proposed rate structure by Re:Sound.
For more detailed information please: Contact FIC.
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Personal Training Legislation:
Recent develops in the United States and IHRSA has shown that there is an increased ongoing legislative effort to regulate the personal training industry. Given that this legislation tends to begin in the United States and travel to Canada, FIC wrote a preliminary outline of our stance on this issue as below.
Legislating the Fitness Industry By: Brian Gilbank and Scott Wildeman:
Legislation or certification of clubs needs to balance public safety and profitability.
There is currently no legislation in Canada that covers fitness clubs or the certification of fitness professionals. Should this change?
Fitness Industry Council of Canada (FIC), The International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association (IHRSA) and several other international certifying and industry organizations all agree that any legislation must be fair and equitable. However, FIC believes that the best scenario is one in which the industry polices itself. Government intervention and regulatory reform in any industry always creates widespread cost increases which would need to be passed onto consumers. This in turn would make access to health and fitness services more expensive at a time when the focus should be on making it more affordable.
Making fitness more accessible to Canadians could actually save billions in associated healthcare costs. With stringent policies and medical industry support, industry-led club certification could even lead to insurance coverage for memberships and personal training expenses, thereby increasing access to healthy lifestyles.
Ensuring Quality in Personal Training
Currently, employers require their personal trainers and fitness leaders to have industry certifications, though they are not obligated to require certifications at all. These certifications provide consumers with high quality services and peace of mind. Many personal trainers also have academic degrees in sports rehabilitation, physical education and biological sciences.
The issue of government regulation has arisen because several agencies offer certifications, there are no government educational requirements, and club owners accept various types of certification.
This is where public awareness becomes a key component to increasing compliance with certification. Consumers must be made aware that they should support clubs that offer certified trainers. Likewise, clubs with certified trainers should market themselves as such.
Club Certification – Higher Level Peace of Mind
Most club owners currently ask their members to answer health questionnaires and require medical sign-off for specific issues. These same club owners also offer sanitation and safety practices, clear signage and emergency preparedness procedures. But not every club follows these procedures, and no external body recognizes them as creating a safer facility.
The International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association (IHRSA), in partnership with other fitness industry organizations, has created a process of club certification that would recognize this work. The group has laid out these goals for certification:
- Standards should be practical.
- Standards should reflect best practices.
- Standards should grow the fitness club industry by increasing consumer confidence in the safety of accredited facilities.
- The certification should result in positive attention from the medical community with corresponding increases in patient referrals.
- The certification should increase positive attention from employers, insurance companies and other third-party payers.
Businesses interested in being certified would need to adhere to industry-led regulation concerning the following items:
- Pre-activity screening for new and prospective members to reduce injury risk and occurrence.
- Orientation, education and supervision of new members and prospective members to ensure safety.
- Risk management and emergency policy standards.
- Criteria for professional staff and independent contractors to ensure levels of competency.
- Compliance with federal and local regulations, if any.
- Facility operating practices.
- Signage.
For most current club owners the above list isn’t onerous, and IRHSA anticipates that over 80% of its member clubs would opt for certification. Those not interested are largely concerned with organizations telling them how to run their business not with the guidelines of the proposed certification.
The hope is that voluntary compliance with an industry-led certification would make the issue of government-led certifications and licensures a waste of public dollars.
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National Do Not Call List:
As of September 30th 2008, fitness clubs were given 31 days to comply with the new regulations governing the implementation of the National Do Not Call List. Before this legislation went into effect, FIC provided all Canadian clubs with a legal review of the impending legislation by our retained law firm of Fraser Milner Casgrain. The legal review also included a template for All Clubs to utilize on their guest registries, guest passes, draw boxes and all marketing and promotional materials – where potential members provided contact information. This wording was developed to avoid the potential violation and fine for not complying with the new rules governing the legislation. (First offence fines can be as much as $15,000)
To view the amendment please go to our secure login.
Clubs will also need to start and maintain their own INTERNAL Do Not Call List in the event a member asks to be placed on a Do Not Call List.
- Registration can be completed online at www.LNNTE-DNCL.gc.ca. There is no charge for registration.
- While registration is mandatory, you do not have to purchase a subscription to, or download, the National DNCL if you only make calls and faxes that are exempted. (i.e. calling existing members)
- However if fitness clubs make calls through “Refer A Friend Campaigns or Contest Boxes – A subscription to the Do Not Call List must be purchased for your area codes.
Complaints and enforcement
- The CRTC will investigate complaints and can penalize telemarketers found to be in violation of the Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules, which include the Telemarketing Rules, National DNCL Rules and Automatic Dialing and Announcing Device Rules.
- As of September 30, 2008, the CRTC can levy penalties of up to $1,500 for an individual and up to $15,000 for a corporation, for each violation.
Continued Monitoring:
FIC continues to monitor legislation and issues effecting the Canadian commercial fitness industry both provincially and federally for it’s members, both through research, government publications (i.e.: Canada Gazette) and a dedicated group of provincial council members across Canada. If you are aware of any legislation or public policy issues that could affect our industry please contact FIC.
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