If I may, Mr. Chair, we have over 80,000 registered charities in Canada today--that is, they are registered as charities under the Income Tax Act. The approach we take with charities with respect to compliance with the rules, I think, recognizes the important role they play in Canadian society. Often, as well, charities are not being run by large boards of directors that have sophisticated knowledge and expertise.
We're doing a few things. First of all, if we determine that there's a compliance problem with a charity, we don't tell them in the first instance that they're offside and therefore no longer eligible to derive the benefits of being a charity. We would get in touch with the charity and let the charity know the issue we've identified and find a way that resolves it.
There was reference earlier, in fact--and I'll just highlight it in the main estimates--to charities regulatory reform, which was announced in budget 2004. As Mr. Ralston explained, this was also designed through outreach to provide more education and support to charities to help them comply with the requirements under the Income Tax Act as they affect charities.