Madam Speaker, at first blush my constituents are probably sitting in their living rooms right now saying “This is a heck of a good idea”. I was sitting in the lobby and thinking, at first blush, “This is a really good idea. Let us give those charitable donations more of a tax break than they currently get”.
Then I looked at the proposal. The proposal is being put forward by the member for Fraser Valley, a member of the Reform Party. The bells started going off. I began to think “What is it they want to do?” At first blush my constituents would say to me “What they want to do is make the tax credit for charitable donations at least as generous as the credit accorded political contributions. That is exactly what they want to do”.
Why do we not look at the mirror image of what they are proposing? The Reform Party's selective use of the facts in any particular issue is what any opposition party relies on. They rely on only telling so much. If they tell more it makes things very difficult and they do not get the support they need on a particular bill.
Let us look at the whole story, the whole situation when it comes to a tax credit, whether it is political or charitable. I will tell this to my constituents because it is important. Let us say that Stan Keyes received a $100,000 donation to his political campaign. That is very generous. I would appreciate it. But the only tax relief they would receive on that $100,000, to a maximum, would be $1,150. That is it.
That same constituent could say that it was not enough to give money to Stan, that they would also like to give $100,000 to the St. Joseph's Hospital Foundation in my riding. The Reform Party will not tell us that the tax credit they would receive on that donation would be far greater than they would receive giving the $100,000 to me. That is right. Even the members of the Reform Party are puzzled by this. It is true. A political donation of $100,000 gets a maximum tax credit of $1,150. A $100,000 donation to a charitable organization gets a far greater tax credit.
Why is that? It is because we encourage grassroots Canadians to donate money to their political parties on a much broader spectrum. Let us get more people donating to political parties and friends in smaller amounts. Let us ensure that people who are generous toward charitable organizations, like the St. Joseph's Hospital Foundation in my riding, are encouraged to give larger amounts so they also get a larger tax credit for doing that. Does that not make sense?
Now the alarm bells go off in my head. Why do we suppose that a party like Reform, which claims to be grassroots—and the Bloc can be lumped into this as well—said from the beginning that they wanted a lot of small donations? They want those $10, $20 and $30 donations from their grassroots supporters.
Now we have a motion from the Reform Party that proposes to make the tax credits for charitable donations as least as generous as political tax credits.
Let us look at that mirror image I spoke of. Now we see that the Reform Party is really after some equality with charitable donations in those bigger amounts of cash coming into its political coffers. Now we get the picture.
This is not talking about “Let us help out those people”. We are only talking about donations of up to $200. That is all they are talking about. That is suspicious.
What is the mirror effect of this? The mirror effect is, if they are looking to have equality and simplify the tax system, they are looking for, dare I say on behalf of the Reform, larger political donations. No, I would not want to say that, but let us have a look at exactly what this is all about.
The Minister of Finance has always been supportive of enhancing tax assistance to the charitable sector. He has always been there for them. Consequently, the assistance given to the charitable sector has been enhanced. I tell that to the hon. member from the Reform Party who has nothing better to do than stand in the House and yell at me. During his speech I was quiet, but he has chosen to be very agitated about this. I understand why.
If I were out there asking the public to increase the amount of money they were going to give to me, and for that they would get a bigger tax break at the end of the day, I would be kind of embarrassed too. I would be yelling at members opposite for pointing that out to my constituents who are watching tonight.
What has the minister done? The Minister of Finance has enhanced and assisted the charitable sector in every budget: in the 1994 budget, in the 1995 budget, right up until this year's budget in 1998. The relationship between government and the private sector in support of charities can be described as a 50:50 partnership, although the level for tax assistance to donations by individuals is generally somewhat larger than 50% for cash donations, again I say above $200.
Quite frankly, I think many taxpaying Canadians out there would say that is very generous support.
My constituents are saying the tax assistance provided through a federal tax credit of 17% on donations up to $200 and 29% on amounts in excess of $200 is generous. They are quite satisfied. The application of the credit reduces basic federal tax, which in turn reduces a donor's provincial tax liabilities.
When we look at the proposal being put forward by the member for Fraser Valley, I say it looks very level headed and it looks as though they really care.
I have heard some terrific speeches in the House tonight during Private Members' Business. Those members are absolutely correct. Those charitable organizations out there doing the good work in our communities are most valued. There is no question of that.
Everything this government can do to help those charitable donors it will do. We are going to give them every assistance that we can possibly give them.