The churches in Canada express concerns about the changes proposed to their tax state

“The churches in Canada express concern for two recommendations of the Permanent Committee for Finance, proposing the revocation of the state of tax exemption of prolife and charity organizations based on faith, which would have a significant impact on Canadian society”.

The new Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney, officially entered office on Friday 14 March, after his elections last weekend as the leader of the liberal party.

The former banker, who previously guided the central banks of Canada and the United Kingdom, succeeds Justin Trudeau, who announced his resignation in early January after almost ten years in power.

The new leader of the first great challenge of the Canadian government will face the commercial war launched by Donald Trump against Canada.

The threats of the President of the United States to transform Canada into the “51st American state” triggered an unprecedented crisis between the two neighboring countries.

The proposed changes

Behind these threats and provocations, another completely different problem has been obscured in recent weeks: the liberal government plan to revoke the charity status of Canadian religious organizations. The Permanent Committee for Finance has published a report in December with 462 recommendations. Among these, two clauses face this problem directly.

Clause 429 proposes to revoke the charity state of the clause and clause of anti-abortion organizations 430 extends this policy to all religious organizations.

“Clause 430 aims to prevent these organizations from obtaining a charity status and could have a huge impact on Canadian society,” explained Benjamin Boivin, publisher of Le Verbe, a Catholic media based in Quebec, explained to the Vatican news.

Churches play the alarm
The charity work in Canada carried out by religious institutions involves tens of thousands of associations, including parishes, mosques and synagogues.

“Until now, the government has reimbursed part of the donations made by individuals to these organizations in order to encourage charity activities within Canadian society,” said Benjamin Boivin.

On February 21, Cardinal Frank Leo, Archbishop of Toronto, wrote a letter to the Minister of Finance Dominic Leblanc, expressing the concern of the Catholic Church observing that religious charitable organizations strengthen the tissue of our nation through their dedicated service, awareness -raising efforts and care for the needy.

Cardinal Leo also condemned the proposal as “absolutely deplorable and unacceptable”, claiming that if the pro-vita and religious organizations should lose their charity status, it would go against the recognition of Canada of the irreplaceable role of faith, worship and religion in society.

While the budget and clauses 429 and 430 have yet to be adopted, religious institutions throughout the country sound the alarm.

“The existence and the ministry of religious communities benefit from Canadian society well beyond its members”, said the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) in an open letter also sent to Minister Dominic Leblanc.

Damage for Canadian society
In fact, the charity impact of religious associations throughout Canada (which constitute about 40% of the 73,000 recorded organizations of the country, according to Canada Revenue Agency) extends beyond the role of religion only.

According to a study published last December by the Cardus Research Center, the tax exemptions for churches and religious organizations are very beneficial for all Canadians, including the government itself.

The study discovered that the value of the contributions provided by religious congregations to their communities is 10.5 times greater than the amount of the tax exemptions they receive.

He asked in Canada affected by the proposals to change their tax status