Finance committee  What helped us was the changes pertaining to capital gains. There is the work done by Don Johnson and others with the support of Imagine Canada and several other groups. The Liberals had started and the Conservative government continued, and this was very important. We are talking about $1 billion given to charitable organizations.

Finance committee  Imagine Canada feels that it is up to donors to decide who they want to give their donations to, within the regulatory framework in which they operate. We are not going to assume a correctional role as to the destination of these donations. It is really up to Canadians to make this sort of decision.

Finance committee  At present, the rates are 15% and 29%. So it would probably be necessary to propose a rate of 29%. The system is complex. It could be simpler. What you are suggesting would not solve all the problems, but it's an idea to which we would not be the least bit opposed. You were talking about small donors.

Finance committee  Youth are very interested in the charitable sector, no doubt about that. They are volunteering. We sometimes think they are not, but they are. They're the largest group of volunteers in the country. They volunteer fewer hours, but they volunteer in very big numbers. Their expectations are often different.

Finance committee  With what we're recommending under the stretch, there would be no spousal pooling. We've had discussions with the Canada Revenue Agency and Finance about that, because we think it would be too complicated. So with regard to the stretch, it would have to be per individual. Again, I think the people who will be interested in the stretch are interested in it because they really want to help a particular charity.

Finance committee  I'll maybe just speak on a few points. On what research shows in terms of tax incentives, surely no research will show that 100% of people give because of tax incentives. That's clear. But pretty much all research has shown that it does play a role. The CSGVP, which is a big Statistics Canada survey on giving and volunteering that is done every three years, shows that just over 50% of Canadians said they would give more if the tax credit was more generous.

Finance committee  Yes, to add to what Al was saying, there's a dual policy goal here, which I think makes it really unique. The first one, of course, is to rebuild. I shouldn't say that it's to “rebuild”, because it's still very strong, but it's to strengthen and broaden the donor base for years to come.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am happy to appear today before the Standing Committee on Finance. Imagine Canada is the voice for the charitable sector in Canada. Today I'd like to talk mostly about the stretch tax credit, which is the focus of our brief. I want to talk about it because we feel it's an innovative and exciting policy proposal that we believe will make a real difference for charities and for Canadians.

Finance committee  We've been able to build this portal with the funding from the Canada Revenue Agency. That, I think, is going to be a game changer and will help Canadians to make their own decisions. I'd love to be able to give a demo to the committee down the road if you're interested. The second one, and I'll finish with this, is that we're launching a standards program, an accreditation program for charities, so that they can show Canadians they have the systems and policies in place to be effective organizations, because we know that's what donors, funders, and volunteers are looking for.

Finance committee  The tax credit system that we have now is a very generous one. One of the issues is that awareness of that is not huge. The reason we are proposing this stretch tax credit is the idea of giving people an incentive to always give a bit more. That's why we're not recommending that the tax credit be raised holus bolus from 29% to 39% or 40%, because it is at a generous level.

Finance committee  Thanks, Mr. Brison. The results of the policies around capital gains have been very beneficial, and Imagine Canada supported those policies. We're coming forward with this stretch now in order to look at it from the other side and see how we can build and strengthen the base of Canadian donors in the 10 or 20 years to come.

Finance committee  The message we are trying to send with the stretch tax credit is that incentives must also be created to ensure that the average Canadian can become a philanthropist and help small and large organizations.

Finance committee  Absolutely not. We strongly recognize the importance of the state, which is to ensure the provision of services; there is no doubt in that regard. In reality, however, in many cases, charities do pick up the slack.

Finance committee  No, I don't think that this is at all—

Finance committee  Absolutely. The stretch tax credit seeks to strengthen the quality of work being done by small and large organizations, and their ability to do their job wherever they may be in Canada, be it in urban or rural regions.