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Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre is Open!
From Red Deer College
New legacy begins as RDC celebrates grand opening of the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre
After many years of planning and almost three years of construction, Red Deer College reached a historic milestone today with the opening of the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre/Centre des Jeux du Canada Gary W. Harris.
“The Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre is an extraordinary addition to our College and our community,” says Joel Ward, RDC President & CEO. “This building is a symbol of RDC’s future – for our students, faculty, staff, community members and partners. And today we take a huge step forward on this future path as we celebrate this grand opening and continue to transition to a recognized university.”
Dignitaries and guests from across Alberta, including Minister of Advanced Education, Marlin Schmidt, were at RDC for today’s celebration. “As RDC continues down the path towards becoming a degree granting university, the opening of the Gary W Harris Canada Games Centre is an important step in the growth of the College to provide great facilities and learning spaces for students and the whole community of Red Deer. The Alberta government is committed to investing in making life better for the students, athletes and citizens of Red Deer, and this incredible centre will do that for decades to come,” says Marlin Schmidt, Minister of Advanced Education.
The Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre, RDC’s newest state-of-the-art teaching and learning facility, will also be a pivotal part of the upcoming 2019 Canada Winter Games. From February 15 until March 3, 2019, five events will take place at the Centre, including short track speed skating, badminton, wheelchair basketball, figure skating and squash. The Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre has also been named the legacy building for the 2019 Canada Winter Games, and it will continue to provide health, wellness and sport opportunities to community members for decades after the Games.
“This building will have a tremendous impact on our region, and community members will benefit directly and indirectly from the facility, which further positions Red Deer College and Red Deer as a destination for a wide range of activities and opportunities,” says Morris Flewwelling, RDC Board Chair. “We’re embarking on an exciting new future, and the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre simply wouldn’t have been possible without all of the work and contributions from our partners who have dedicated themselves to achieving this goal.”
With the many benefits the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre will provide the region, Ward emphasizes its importance to RDC’s learners who will benefit from the building, now and in the future. “We are so honoured and excited that this facility will be used by community members and athletes from across Canada. But, teaching and learning is always at the core of what we do and who we are as an educational institution,” says Ward. “To that end, we designed this building to facilitate teaching opportunities across a wide range of programs, primarily in the fields of Health Sciences. Our new Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre provides a cutting-edge facility for our current and future program offerings.”
About RDC: For 54 years, RDC has been proudly serving our learners and our communities. RDC offers more than 100 different programs (including full degrees, certificates, diplomas and skilled trades programs) to 7,500 full- and part-time credit students and more than 36,000 youth and adult learners in the School of Continuing Education each year. Named by Alberta Venture magazine as one of Alberta’s most innovative organizations for the Centre for Innovation in Manufacturing, RDC is a key location for applied and industry-led research. Our main campus is strategically situated on 290 acres of Alberta’s natural landscape along Queen Elizabeth II Highway. We have also expanded our learning and performing arts space into the heart of downtown Red Deer through our Welikoklad Event Centre and the Donald School of Business.
From the Fraser Institute
By Jake Fuss and Grady Munro
There would have been 1.5 million more Canadians who donated to charity in 2023—and $755.5 million more in donations—had Canadians given to the same extent they did 10 years prior
According to recent polling, approximately one in five Canadians have skipped paying a bill over the past year so they can buy groceries. As families are increasingly hard-pressed to make ends meet, this undoubtedly means more and more people must seek out food banks, shelters and other charitable organizations to meet their basic necessities.
And each year, Canadians across the country donate their time and money to charities to help those in need—particularly around the holiday season. Yet at a time when the relatively high cost of living means these organizations need more resources, new data published by the Fraser Institute shows that the level of charitable giving in Canada is actually falling.
Specifically, over the last 10 years (2013 to 2023, the latest year of available data) the share of tax-filers who reported donating to charity fell from 21.9 per cent to 16.8 per cent. And while fewer Canadians are donating to charity, they’re also donating a smaller share of their income—during the same 10-year period, the share of aggregate income donated to charity fell from 0.55 per cent to 0.52 per cent.
To put this decline into perspective, consider this: there would have been 1.5 million more Canadians who donated to charity in 2023—and $755.5 million more in donations—had Canadians given to the same extent they did 10 years prior. Simply put, this long-standing decline in charitable giving in Canada ultimately limits the resources available for charities to help those in need.
On the bright side, despite the worrying long-term trends, the share of aggregate income donated to charity recently increased from 0.50 per cent in 2022 to 0.52 per cent in 2023. While this may seem like a marginal improvement, 0.02 per cent of aggregate income for all Canadians in 2023 was $255.7 million.
The provinces also reflect the national trends. From 2013 to 2023, every province saw a decline in the share of tax-filers donating to charity. These declines ranged from 15.4 per cent in Quebec to 31.4 per cent in Prince Edward Island.
Similarly, almost every province recorded a drop in the share of aggregate income donated to charity, with the largest being the 24.7 per cent decline seen in P.E.I. The only province to buck this trend was Alberta, which saw a 3.9 per cent increase in the share of aggregate income donated over the decade.
Just as Canada as a whole saw a recent improvement in the share of aggregate income donated, so too did many of the provinces. Indeed, seven provinces (except Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador) saw an increase in the share of aggregate income donated to charity from 2022 to 2023, with the largest increases occurring in Saskatchewan (7.9 per cent) and Alberta (6.7 per cent).
Canadians also volunteer their time to help those in need, yet the latest data show that volunteerism is also on the wane. According to Statistics Canada, the share of Canadians who volunteered (both formally and informally) fell by 8 per cent from 2018 to 2023. And the total numbers of hours volunteered (again, both formal and informal) fell by 18 per cent over that same period.
With many Canadians struggling to make ends meet, food banks, shelters and other charitable organizations play a critical role in providing basic necessities to those in need. Yet charitable giving—which provides resources for these charities—has long been on the decline. Hopefully, we’ll see this trend turn around swiftly.
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