Thank you, Chair, and thanks to the committee members for the opportunity to be here.
I think everyone recognizes the impressive contributions that charitable and non-profit organizations make in Canadian communities and around the world. They provide services in response to real needs, and they contribute to the quality of life of all of us in areas as diverse as religious practice; education; health care and research; social services; environmental protection; the settlement of immigrants and refugees; support for seniors; community development; and the arts.
Canada's international reputation is also the result of efforts made beyond our borders in situations of emergency relief and development work.
All too often, though, the economic contributions of charities and non-profits are overlooked by governments, businesses, or, to be honest, the vast majority of Canadians. Little attention is paid to the role of our sector in economic programming and policy-making.
The best data we have available —and I'll come back to this point in a second—indicates that, as a whole, charities and non-profits employ more than two million Canadians and account for in excess of 8% of Canada's GDP. This activity is not regionally focused. Charities and non-profits operate in every community of every size in every part of Canada. We strongly believe that any discussion of productivity and economic growth, particularly if we're aiming for smart growth that is equitable and benefits all regions, needs to take charities and non-profits into consideration.
We have a long way to go to change the perception of this sector, but the fact that we're here today, when the committee has adopted very focused parameters for this year's pre-budget consultations, is very encouraging.
A moment ago, I mentioned data. For those of you who are veterans of this committee, you'll know that we've been raising this issue for several years. Much of the economic and employment data we have about charities and non-profits dates back to 2008 and even 2003. Since then, Statistics Canada has not collected or published economic and employment data about the sector. We simply cannot make good evidence-based policy decisions in the absence of current data. I liken this to the crisis facing the automobile sector in 2008. Can you imagine if the government's response to that situation had been based on sales, employment, and profit figures from the boom years of the 1990s?
We've had very productive meetings with the chief statistician and officials from other interested departments. There is a will to address the situation. We believe that a recommendation from this committee would go a long way towards ensuring that the necessary resources are made available.
As you can read in our letter to the committee, we believe that there are other areas of activity where immediate action could help the organizations boost their productivity and further capitalize on the economic potential.
Social finance, social innovation, and social enterprise are concepts that are getting traction around the world and here in Canada. We need to ensure that government investments in developing this space achieve their full potential, which means making sure that the current regulatory and administrative policies don't limit the ability of charities and non-profits to work with government toward common economic goals. We've endorsed recommendations made by the Canadian Community Economic Development Network and Philanthropic Foundations Canada that would remove existing barriers to charities and non-profits accessing some of the skills and capital investments they need in order to be full partners.
Finally, if we want to talk about productivity, this committee is trying to make recommendations relevant to the 21st century, the century in which we're trying to solve critical social problems, but our regulatory regime is derived from 19th-century interpretations of a 17th-century statute. This needs to change. The CRA, as the de facto regulator of charities, gets a lot of criticism, much of it unfair, as it seeks to enforce regulations and practices that are simply out of date. While the issue that triggered it was very specific, the expert panel making recommendations to the Minister of National Revenue on public policy and advocacy work by charities commented on the broader challenges posed by the antiquated regulatory system.
The government has made a number of commitments with regard to charity regulation. While some progress has been made, we are concerned that the commitment to broad legal and regulatory reform, which will take time and resources to get right, has not been prioritized. I cannot imagine that committee members would be silent in the face of 400-year-old regulations impacting the ability of any other sector to operate in today's economy, but this is exactly the case for today's charities. We believe that a statement by this committee would give a significant boost towards the government meeting its commitments in this area.
Thanks very much.