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We have two questions from our readers to look into this week! Let’s dive in.
Claim: Did the Liberals try to revoke charitable status for religious groups? Sent to us by multiple readers, the claim comes from the Conservatives and a petition they are gathering signatures for on their website. The Conservative site says that the “NDP-Liberal-dominated finance committee” recommended that religious organizations be stripped of charitable status.
The petition concludes with the undersigned “calling on the Canadian government to reject the absurd, mean-spirited attack on religious organizations.”
Verdict: Misleading
Back in December, the federal finance committee released a Pre-Budget Consultation — essentially, a primer on the issues the government will have to face this year when putting together its budget. The consultation includes recommendations about how the government should allocate funds.
There are 12 committee members: four Conservatives, one from the Bloc, one from the NDP, and six Liberals, including the chair, BC MP Peter Fonseca.
The recommendations that the Conservatives are referencing in their petition are numbered 429 and 430. Recommendation 429 says to “no longer provide charitable status to anti-abortion organizations,” while 430 advises the government to “amend the Income Tax Act to provide a definition of a charity which would remove the privileged status of ‘advancement of religion’ as a charitable purpose.”
It’s this last recommendation that ruffled some feathers in the religious community. Opponents of this recommendation mention that roughly 40 per cent of charities in Canada are religious in nature. Further, they argue that “advancing religion” is inherent in the actions of many of these charities, in things like shelters, soup kitchens, and food banks. For example, if their religion advises feeding the hungry, is operating a food bank advancing religion?
Supporters of the recommendation argue that Canada’s tax exemption for religious charities could add up to billions in lost revenue for Canada, and since the country is increasingly secular, revisiting old legislation around religion is a good thing.
But ultimately, nothing has been decided or proposed in a federal budget. This was an official recommendation, but that doesn’t mean the incoming government needs to follow it.
Comments
Personally, Canada’s tax exemption for religious charities or churches should be eliminated. No one should be exempt from paying taxes and I suspect if tax exemption were eliminated, we would see a handful disappear.