Policy Clash: The Many Difficulties Facing Charitable Organizations in Canada

Abstract

With the emerging social enterprise sector, budding ideas in community development, an interest resurgence in local affairs, ever-higher public debt, and the ever-shrinking purchasing power of our dollar due to the poor and inflationary monetary policy of the Bank of Canada, one would think that the not-for-profit and charity sector would be given great leeway to raise funds and do what they do best – help people. The aim of this paper is to summarily demonstrate the ill-designed structure of the present charity law in Canada, to decry the onerous nature of the tax laws imposed on charitable organizations, and how there is a great need for radical reforms in this field if we are to make the charity sector flourish and prosper.Today, Canada is home to 86,000 charities of several sorts (namely, the four heads of charitable that have been recognized at common law for centuries – the relief of poverty, the advancement of education, the advancement of religion, and other purposes that benefit the community in a way the courts have said are charitable), which comprises an estimated cost to the federal government of providing tax relief to individuals for charitable donations of almost $2.4 billion. The gross value of the entire industry (not just charities) is estimated to be at around $190 billion.