I'd like to make a couple of points in responding. One is on the relationship between charities, non-profits, and growth. Here we have a sector that from 1996 to 2008 grew faster than the Canadian economy. That is the last date for which we have numbers, which comes back to another bugaboo of the charitable sector. The sector did that despite the fact that they don't pay taxes and they have difficulty accessing investment capital. They don't issue shares, they don't make profits, and they can't pay shareholders.
You have a sector there that has a lot of potential for growth. When it comes to looking at tax incentives to donate, I think there are very positive things that charities can benefit from, but one has to keep in mind that, for the sector as a whole, donations account for about 10% of revenue, and another 45% to 50% comes from government. Therefore, our fundamental concern, really, is with the number that has been the basis of discussion around this table, which is that we're heading into a long-term period of lower economic growth. To me, deficits are a symptom of that, as opposed to a cause.
What we're looking at on the charitable side is one thing that hasn't been mentioned. Along with the economic fundamentals, there are the demographic fundamentals. We see this looming divergence between demands on charities and demands on governments. Growth is falling and demands are accelerating. The aging of the population is accelerating. Cultural change is accelerating.
We think that charities and non-profits are basically in the same vise that governments are. What we're looking for is a joint solution, a reform of our relationship with the government, in a broad sense. Tax incentives may well be part of that, but there's no single-bullet solution out there.