Mr. Speaker, citizens and residents of Canada are drawing the attention of the House of Commons to the following: The Liberal Party of Canada promised in its 2021 platform to deny the charitable status of organizations that have convictions about abortion, which the Liberal Party views as dishonest. This may jeopardize, they say, the charitable status of many other institutions, such as hospitals, churches, schools, homeless shelters and other charitable organizations which do amazing work in Canada. They do not agree with the Liberal Party on this matter for reasons of conscience.
Many Canadians depend on and benefit from charitable work done by such organizations, and the government has previously used a values test, through the summer jobs program, denying funding to organizations not willing to endorse the political positions of the governing party.
They therefore call on the government to recognize that all Canadians have a right under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to freedom of expression without discrimination. They also call on the government to protect and preserve the application of charitable status rules that are politically and ideologically neutral, without discrimination on the basis of political or religious values and without the imposition of another values test.