Thank you.
Mr. Chair, and honourable members, I am pleased to be here on behalf of the Heart and Stroke Foundation to address the positive developments in Bill C-43, particularly regarding the amendment to the Criminal Code that will now allow charities to use a computer to help run their lotteries. As you may be aware, the Heart and Stroke Foundation is a national volunteer-based charity supported by more than 140,000 volunteers and close to two million donors. The aim of the Heart and Stroke Foundation is to create healthy lives free of heart disease and stroke. We can do this through the advancement of research and the promotion of healthy living. Our lottery programs are a vital source of revenue to achieve our mission goals.
Despite an impressive 75% reduction in the death rate from heart disease and stroke over the last 60 years since our inception, every seven minutes, someone in Canada dies from one of these diseases. This is unacceptable, given that it amounts to 66,000 deaths each year. Heart disease and stroke are the leading cause of hospitalization and the second leading cause of death in Canada.
Major charities—we ourselves, the Canadian Cancer Society whom you've just heard from, and others such as SickKids Foundation, the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, and the London Health Sciences—had requested that Budget 2014 include an amendment to paragraph 207(4)(c) of the Criminal Code of Canada. Through our collective efforts and discussions with parliamentarians and officials, this change was included in the budget and announced in February 2014.
We are extremely pleased to see this inclusion in the BIA because of the positive benefits it brings to our ability to raise needed funds to advance our mission. We are very pleased that the amendment will now allow charitable organizations to use computers and other modern technologies in their lottery sales and operations as well as in draws.
The provincial gaming organizations have always been able to use computers and online technologies to run their lotteries. Conversely, because of an outdated Criminal Code restriction, until now charities had to rely on costly, labour-intensive, manual processes. This has come at the cost of our ability to efficiently and effectively reach the consumer, whose expectations, which understandably have been established by other industries and the growth of e-commerce, make the charitable sector processes and practices appear to be quite antiquated.
We are confident that the proposed changes will enable the sector to better demonstrate that we operate in the most effective and efficient way possible. The amendment will result, in our estimation, in savings of millions of dollars each year across all Canadian charities that run lotteries, through the ability to transact online and minimize our dependency on printing, mailing, and the associated risks of human error. This is money that can be redirected to the collective mission activities, to the benefit of all Canadians. In our case, it will afford us the potential to invest further in life-saving research and health promotion.
As you know, Canada's charitable sector plays an important role in enhancing Canadians' lives by conducting life-saving research, providing crucial social and community services, and undertaking important initiatives in such areas as health promotion, sports and recreation, and arts and culture. These organizations help Canadians address the numerous health, social, and economic challenges they face on a daily basis. Allowing charitable organizations to make better, more efficient use of their funds is in the best interest of all Canadians.
To this end, it is our hope that the provinces will move to allow this pending federal amendment to be adopted expeditiously. The federal government wants charities to find innovative solutions that will make them more efficient and sustainable. The federal government is also committed to removing any unnecessary red tape or regulations that impede these solutions. Making this amendment provides just such a solution.
By implementing this change, the federal government would significantly enhance Canada's research capacity, make charities more efficient, and encourage and support Canadians in their efforts to become and stay healthy. It will allow charities to conduct business in a manner increasingly expected by consumers; that is, online and in real time.
Mr. Chair, members of this committee, thank you for your time. I look forward to your questions and to the discussion with you in a few minutes.
Thank you.