In December, the House of Commons finance committee recommended the government should amend its Income Tax Act to “provide a definition of a charity which would remove the privileged status of ‘advancement of religion’ as a charitable purpose."
According to the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, an alliance of churches, schools, and religious groups, that rule change would affect more than 30,000 charitable organizations that fall under the “advancement of religion” category. That number accounts for 42% of all charities in the nation.
Dr. Charles McVety, president of Canada Christian College, calls the idea “catastrophic” for the not-for-profit Bible college and for many other faith-based non-profits.
“And it would bankrupt most churches if they had to pay property tax and couldn't issue tax receipts,” McVety predicts.
Prime Minister Mark Carney, who leads the Liberal Party, has been asked to reject the idea but has not done so, so McVety suspects he supports it.
The recommendation from the Finance Committee will be debated by parliament as it prepares a budget for the federal government.
What could change that process, McVety says, is the upcoming April 28 election. That is when Canada’s voters could make the Conservative Party the majority in parliament which would mean replacing Carney with Pierre Poilievre.
“This election will determine whether or not this happens,” McVety says. “This is a big issue. There's no Western country in the world that has done this.”
