legalizing mma in canada

Legalizing Mixed Martial Arts Across Canada:

Legalizing Mixed Martial Arts Across Canada

Background of Issue:

Background of Issue MMA is currently the fastest growing sport in the world Canada has begun to accept it with the exception of Newfoundland, PEI, Saskatchewan, Yukon and Nunavut With most of Canada accepting MMA as a sport, our goal is to get the rest of the provinces to follow suit

Key points :

Key points MMA events have a huge economic impact for the city in which it is held. Example: UFC 129 in Toronto will bring in 1.5 million in ticket sale taxes alone and an estimated 40 million dollar impact for the city Once MMA is legalized, training in it could provide an outlet for troubled youth by teaching life skills such as discipline, respect and perseverance

Key Points :

Key Points MMA is as legitimate and popular as other sports such as hockey and football and is widely consider safer than them in regards to serious injury.

Government Attention?:

Government Attention? This requires government attention because this is an issue than can only be solved by a change in legislation For the government to fix this issue would result in an influx of revenue from hosting events.

What We Want :

What We Want We want a National Athletic Commission as apposed to provincial ones. As the only reason Saskatchewan and PEI haven't legalized MMA is because they have no athletic commissions The purpose of a NAC would be to regulate the sport of MMA. This is necessary as MMA has no official league and can not be internally regulated like the NHL for example. Doing this will leave the decision of if MMA is Legalized in the hands of the federal government instead of 13 separate hearings.

UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre:

UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre Canadian Fighter

Potential Argument:

Potential Argument MMA is Unsafe MMA is considered safer than Both Hockey and foot ball: a study done at Johns Hopkins medical institution stated that over a 5 year period only 3% of fighters received a severe concussion and no deaths or critical injuries resulted from such matches. This stat translates to about 1 concussion per fighter in there career if they have a fifty fight career. Where as hockey players have a concussion rate of 6 per every 1000 hours of ice time.

Potential Argument:

Potential Argument MMA promotes violence Of course this argument can be made for MMA, however it can just as easily be made for both Hockey and Football yet they are still legal in Canada. MMA promotes discipline and respect.

Why Agree With US?:

Why Agree With US? If MMA becomes legal it will Provide economic benefits for the cities hosting the events. The creation of a National Athletic C ommission would create jobs as many are needed to run the NAC. With the popularity of this sport on the rise being the forerunner behind legalizing it would make you popular among millions when it came to voting time. As having this legalized would keep teens Occupied it could lower the teen crime rate.

Political Party :

Political Party Progressive Conservative Party Provincial leader is Tim Hudak They do not have an official Position on our issue but Tim was a strong supporter of legalizing MMA in Ontario so we think he would be a good choice to carry our interests to the federal government. Adopting out point of view on this issue would give them strong support from MMA fans across Canada

What will get our votes?:

What will get our votes? Obviously getting MMA legalized would get our votes But at the very least bringing it into the main stream as a recognized issue in the eyes of the conservatives would get our vote.

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