Thank you, Mr. Chair and members.
You should have before you a copy of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada's 10-page submission, entitled “Families, Compassion & Charities: Key Components to Maintaining a Strong Canada”, arising from our pre-budget submission.
The EFC is Canada's national association of evangelicals, with our 39 denominational affiliates representing half of Canada's four million Evangelical Christians. We are convinced, from a review of the giving and volunteering patterns of Canadians, that the number one way to sustain and increase charitable giving is to put more money in the hands of Canadian families.
Families are facing mounting pressures in the midst of a challenging economy. Many have experienced increasing expenses while wages have been frozen or salary increases have failed to keep up with inflation. As a result, several of the steps taken by the Government of Canada to support Canadian families are or will be out of reach for many, particularly single-income families. Current tax laws require single-income families to pay up to 37% more in taxes than dual-income families.
The government has promised to implement the family tax cut when the budget is balanced in four or five years' time. Canadians need the tax relief today.
The families that will most benefit from such relief are also statistically the families that give the greatest percentage of their income to Canadian charities. We encourage the government to implement the family tax cut immediately and to focus on expanding the initiative to a full family household income-splitting initiative.
The compassionate generosity of Canadians, individuals, charities, and government is highly regarded worldwide. The evangelical Christian community is actively engaged with the lives of people struggling with poverty and homelessness, both in Canada and internationally. The relationship-building and service that are undertaken are consistently offered on a non-discriminatory basis to those in need. Many efforts are entirely self-funded. Others take place in cooperation with the compassionate expression of Canadians through government funding and available tax incentives.
The Canadian Christian community has long been a leader in caring for the less fortunate in Canada, from church groups inspired to serve sandwiches on the street corner to those providing refuge in extreme cold, or the operation of multi-million dollar addictions rehab centres, hostels, and food service programs. Love is shared in practical expression that meets human need.
We encourage the Government of Canada to continue to partner with these effective organizations, thus enhancing and encouraging the generosity of Canadians and maximizing the impact of government expenditures.
We also affirm the recommendations made in the 2011 all-party report of the human resources and skills development committee to establish a national poverty reduction strategy and to develop, in partnership with the provinces and territories, a national housing strategy.
Canadians are also recognized as being among world leaders in the international development and emergency aid community. The Government of Canada is encouraged to continue to work cooperatively with organizations that have positive impacts on the ground in foreign nations by continuing to provide incentives for Canadians to give, strategically matching donor dollars where appropriate, and reflecting Canadians' generosity in the financial expression of our federal government.
With all levels of government—school boards and municipal, provincial, and federal governments—talking austerity and restraint, it is increasingly important that the charitable sector be supported as we are called upon to rise to meet the growing needs for our services. Statistics Canada has identified six top reasons Canadians offer for making a donation: compassion toward those in need; personal belief in the cause; contribution to the community; being personally affected by the cause; religious beliefs; and the income tax credit.
Just over half say they would increase their charitable giving if they were given a better tax credit. Those who attend religious services weekly—or more—give three and a half times more to charity. Evangelical weekly attenders give 72% more to charity than weekly attenders of all faith groups. Evangelical groups are also giving 27% more to non-religious causes than non-Christians.
The positive charitable giving patterns associated with high levels of religious participation carry over into volunteering as well. Advancement of religion has long been recognized as a charitable purpose that means more than attendance at weekly church meetings.
Evangelical Christians understand reasonable worship to include both the church service and community service. For us, advancement of religion includes the ability to engage in the public square through the provision of benevolent services to others and the presentation, based on biblical principles, of positions on public policy matters and other issues of concern, advancing the good of neighbourhoods, the nation, and those in need around the world.
The EFC encourages the Government of Canada to give serious consideration to the tax credit proposals made by Cardus, Imagine Canada, and others to enhance Canadians' incentives to continue in their generosity toward others.
Thank you.