A parliamentary committee has made troubling recommendations to the federal government of changes to make in the next federal budget. The Finance Committee recommends that the government remove the advancement of religion as a charitable purpose and no longer provide charitable status to "anti-abortion" organizations.
Among its 462 recommendations, the Finance Committee recommended that the government:
Recommendation 429
No longer provide charitable status to anti-abortion organizations.
Recommendation 430
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.
The committee offers these recommendations to the government for its consideration. The Finance Minister does not have to adopt them. If adopted, these changes would devastate many religious charities and destabilize the charitable sector.
When recommendations like these are made, it’s important to ensure MPs hear the concerns of Canadians about them.