Finance committee  Indeed, yes. Alberta is one of the most generous provinces in the whole country.

Finance committee  Well, there you are: civic responsibility is alive and well in Fort McMurray.

Finance committee  I'm sorry. Is it our understanding that there's a difference between the regulatory environment in the United States and in Canada?

Finance committee  Well, I think there's a series of efforts under way meant to increase transparency in Canada. I do believe that CRA is actively involved in those, and those are well advised. In fact, it's something that's held in common right across both the foundations and the charities around their own activities.

Finance committee  Indeed, the blue ribbon panel your government put in place really had this in mind. And there has been a real incentive by leading organizations, such as Imagine Canada, to see the implementation of the blue ribbon panel's recommendations. The work at Treasury Board and also within the line departments is a key part of that.

Finance committee  Yes. One suggestion is that there are youth and philanthropy programs right across the country. They're in Community Foundations, but they're in other institutions, such as United Way, and I'm sure there's a connection through Big Brothers Big Sisters and almost anyone here to some kind of youth initiative to connect a school to, so....

Finance committee  It's a good question. The experience we've had is that isolating particular elements and challenges in a community may mean we overlook the whole experience and the interconnections of community life. I think we're having a good discussion here around the table about this sort of decline in civic involvement, this decline in the civic sensibility, and some of the cultural components to this.

Finance committee  Our response is that we think this invitation to Canadians that the stretch tax credit provides will enable those who may not have given anything at all to then benefit from a tax incentive provided by their government, and that would open up a whole new pool of donors. Mr. Julian asked the question, and Parliament's own budget officer has done some of the research to identify some 600,000 new donors that this might bring into the system.

Finance committee  I just—

Finance committee  That's a great question. One of the things that I think has emerged in recent years, and is reflected in the task force report and its one-year update—and we see this at foundations because foundations are key impact investors and responsible investors—are those intelligent gifts that were made, in part incented by the public policy regime around tax, that have created endowments.

Finance committee  Thanks, Mr. Chairman. It's good to be back here. I'm just going to talk briefly about the thought process we've gone through to bring you some ideas. Each of you will know of your local community foundation, whether you're on Salt Spring Island, in Burlington, Edmonton, or where have you.