Active Canadian government in sport is recent. Even after the passage of the Fitness and Amateur Sport Act in 1961, government activity was limited to small grants to national sport governing bodies and cost-sharing agreements with the provinces aimed at increasing participation in sport. By the end of the 1960s sport had come to be seen as an instrument which could be used to promote national unity. Government involvement increased, and by the 1980s the federal government was pouring increasing funds into the support of elite athletes and the construction of sports facilities.
