Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to debate Bill C-312. I congratulate the hon. member for Dauphin—Swan River on bringing the bill forward.
In a previous job I had the opportunity to participate a little in the Royal Commission on Electoral Reform and Party Financing in the late 1980s and early 1990s. I remember distinctly one visit the committee made to Washington to meet with representatives of the political system in the United States. Practically their first question was why we were there to learn from them because our system was so much further advanced in terms of political financing and representation, the absence of soft money and everything else that goes with the American system.
While I do not necessarily have a problem with Bill C-312 and what it purports to do, I am also aware that governments can level up and can level down. My concern—and I thought the previous speaker on the government side put it well—is that the reason the tax endowments are greater for the person who makes a contribution to a political party as opposed to a small donor to a charity is to encourage grassroots participation.
It is incumbent upon us in this debate to talk a little about an important study that has just come out on the voluntary sector by a blue ribbon committee. It is very concerned about some aspects of charities and wants to make it accountable to end some of the abuses it sees.
It is staggering to note that there are 75,000 charities in Canada alone and that the amount of money donated every year is in excess of $90 billion. At the same time it is also noteworthy that apparently two-thirds of the revenues of charities come from government and only about 12% actually come from donations.
That may be hard to believe for some of us who are at home at 6 o'clock at night when the phones are ringing off the hook with callers wanting donations to this or that charity, but these seem to be the facts.
There certainly is some need to tidy up the problems. I will quote from the Canadian Unitarian Council on the voluntary sector and on charities which said the following:
What voluntary sector leaders told the Panel on Accountability and Governance about Canada's archaic charity laws:
“We are seriously concerned that the body charged with decisions about the public good is Revenue Canada. There is something fundamentally contradictory in the fact that an organization which has as its primary function the raising of government revenue also has control over determining which groups are acknowledged to have a contribution to make to a democratic society”.
The United Way in Drummondville said:
It is imperative that the legislation be in accordance with our modern Canadian values. It doesn't make much sense to come under the yolk of a law which is 400 years old.
We can see some good in the proposed bill. On the other hand we are concerned that the grassroots participation in the political field continues to be encouraged. I will await with interest to see what the mover of the bill has to say in his wrap-up comments.