SPEECH: Continuing the work of the Senate’s Charities Committee in 2019

Hon. Ratna Omidvar: Honourable senators, I rise today in support of Senator Mercer’s motion to extend the date of the reporting of the Senate Special Committee on the Charitable Sector. This past Monday was Cyber Monday. It’s one of the busiest shopping days of the year. It’s followed by Giving Tuesday, which I hope will one day become the biggest day for donors in Canada. As former Governor-General David Johnston said on Giving Tuesday, strong charities are everyone’s business. I am so pleased that under the leadership of Senator Mercer, charities are now the Senate’s business.

We have a very small committee of seven members. We have covered a great deal of ground since we started our work. But we require an extension to ensure that our final recommendations reflect the scope, depth and complexity of the work we are undertaking. As you well know, there are close to 86,000 charities in Canada, and there are 80,000-plus not-for-profits in Canada.

So how do we go about consulting with this huge sector? Should we focus on their work? Should we consult with them, based on sector — health, religion, sport, international aid, social services? Should we slice and dice them by size — small, medium or big?

I think we have arrived at a very innovative solution, which I hope will get reviewed in time by other committees. We opted to reach as many people as we could by going beyond the committee room and into the digital sphere. Our online survey has been pushed out to hundreds of charities and not-for-profits. We have already received well over 500 responses from all parts of the country, from all shapes and sizes, and from all sectors.

So not only are we reaching more people, we are also reaching them at a fraction of the cost.

Extending the committee’s mandate beyond the new year into September 2019 will ensure that the responses to the survey are properly tabulated and analyzed by the Library of Parliament, and synthesized into our final report.

There is another reason for us to ask for the extension. The ground beneath our feet is shifting. As you well know, the Senate is examining Bill C-86, the “budget implementation act,” that includes amendments to the Income Tax Act that alters the extent to which registered charities can engage in non-partisan political activities, also known as public policy dialogue.

While our special committee will not be receiving parts of Bill C-86 — I imagine they will go back to Finance when the bill is received here — we still need to be attuned to the legislative reality and roll-out of this new measure.

There were also three other measures that impact on our work. The fall economic statement included the creation of a permanent advisory committee on the charitable sector within the CRA. It also announced an investment in new social finance funds. These two proposals can potentially dramatically change the sector, as they address two key problems we have heard again and again: one is the need for a home for the sector on the Hill, and the second is instruments that would increase access to capital by charities.

Further, there is a provision that will allow non-profit journalism and journalistic organizations to issue official donation receipts to Canadians who contribute through subscriptions or other funding arrangements. This means that the charitable sector is set to grow and evolve, including groups such as newspapers that have not traditionally been able to become qualified donees under the Income Tax Act.

Honourable senators, there is a great need for us to delve even deeper and take the required amount of time to present a report to you that will be meaningful, tangible and hopefully doable. I kindly ask for your support.