Madam Speaker, I certainly agree with the hon. member regarding the importance of freedom of speech, but my contention is that is not at issue in this matter.
The hon. member has requested a more detailed answer to his question about partisan political activity by registered charities. As the hon. member knows, the Income Tax Act prohibits me from breaching the confidentiality of any taxpayer, but I would like to address the role of the Canada Revenue Agency in regulating charities.
I would like to remind the House that this is not about religious charities, but about all charities. The Canada Revenue Agency is mandated to regulate certain aspects of charities and does so using rules based in law that are applied consistently and fairly to all charities across this country.
We know that the great majority of charities will conduct their activities within the law when they fully understand it. It is the job of the officials of the Canada Revenue Agency to help charities understand the rules so that they can easily comply. It is common practice for our officials to be proactive in dealing with registered charities and to provide guidance and assistance in helping them comply with the law.
Outreach and education are important and our guidance on the rules about political activities is particularly helpful at election time. In our experience this assistance, which has been extended to organizations on all aspects of various issues, has been welcome.
We are sometimes called upon to discuss the issue of partisan political activities with charities. This can happen after receipt of a complaint or when an official notices that the rules are being pushed. In these cases, we always try to understand what the charity is trying to achieve and what it is planning on doing in the near future. We then ensure the charity understands the rules and its obligations under the act with respect to partisan political activities.
The CRA regulates 80,000 registered charities. Some five and a half million Canadians directly support the work of charities by donating over $5.8 billion to them each year, contributing to the social fabric of our nation. We encourage Canadians to take advantage of the information available to the public on the CRA charities website in order to help them understand the rules that regulate all Canadian charities.