Adam van Koeverden highlights Roustan Sports visit and productivity tax push

Canada’s Secretary of State for Sport, Adam van Koeverden, visited Roustan Sports’ headquarters in Brantford, Ont., on Friday for a tour focused on manufacturing, productivity and future growth. The four-time Olympic medallist spent time on the factory floor, where he saw how the company turns out hockey sticks and hand-crafted watercraft paddles.

Productivity Mega Deduction front and centre

The visit was built around Canada’s new Productivity Mega Deduction (PMD), described as one of the most significant changes to the country’s business tax framework in roughly half a century. The program is designed to help companies grow by making it more attractive to invest in new equipment, adopt advanced technology and expand operations.

Roustan Sports, which owns the Grey Owl Paddles brand in addition to its hockey stick lines, was used as a showcase for how such a measure could work in practice. Grey Owl Paddles, billed as Canada’s top paddle brand, was acquired in 2025 by Roustan Sports owner W. Graeme Roustan, who also owns The Hockey News.

In front of Roustan Sports employees in Brantford, the announcement was framed as being closely aligned with the company’s ambitions to compete both domestically and globally. The PMD is expected to support investments in state-of-the-art machinery and an expanded production footprint aimed at supplying more customers in Canada and export markets.

Canada’s last hockey stick factory in spotlight

Roustan underlined the uniqueness of the Brantford facility within Canadian sport manufacturing, noting that it is the last remaining hockey stick factory in the country. He stated that he is "proud to be the steward of the last hockey stick factory in Canada," while also emphasizing the importance of the company’s hand-crafted paddle production as another signature Canadian product.

He expressed confidence that the plant’s workforce, whose history at the site stretches back to the 19th century, will benefit from the new deduction as the company leans on modern equipment and in-house expertise to expand across Canada and into additional international markets.

Second federal visit in just over a month

Van Koeverden’s appearance marked the second high-profile federal visit to Roustan Sports in a little over a month. On Aug. 31, Toronto Centre MP Evan Solomon, who serves as Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario and Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, spent more than two hours at the Brantford operation.

During the latest stop, van Koeverden met privately with Roustan and TRUE Sports president Geoff Sarjeant in addition to the factory tour conducted alongside staff and media. The sequence of visits has placed Roustan Sports at the centre of Ottawa’s broader discussion about productivity, innovation and the future of hockey equipment manufacturing in Canada.