Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives have launched a petition against the finance committee’s recommendation to revoke tax-exempt status for the “advancement of religion.”
The federal government’s Standing Committee on Finance quietly recommended removing charitable tax status for churches and religious and pro-life organizations in Canada.
The recommendation was issued Friday, December 13 ahead of the Liberals’ March 16 fall economic update — otherwise remembered as the Friday then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau removed Chrystia Freeland from her role as finance minister ahead of her Monday resignation.
All federal parties except for the Conservatives support the recommendation.
The finance committee put forward 462 recommendations in their December 13 report.
Recommendation 429 states the government should “no longer provide charitable status to anti-abortion organizations.”
Recommendation 430 states the government should “Amend the Income Tax Act to provide a definition of a charity which would remove the privileged status of ‘advancement of religion’ as a charitable purpose.”
If the recommendations are accepted, churches will no longer be considered “charities” and therefore donations to churches will not be eligible for tax deductions.
The finance committee is made up of representatives from the four main federal parties, though the majority overruled the Tories.
In response, the Conservatives opened a petition on their website, slamming the recommendations as a “mean-spirited attack” and encouraging Canadians to sign in support of the net-positive outcomes religious groups bring to society.
“The NDP-Liberal dominated Finance Committee just recommended that religious organizations such as churches, synagogues, mosques, gurdwaras, and temples be stripped of charitable status,” wrote the Tories.
“Religious organizations do good work advancing the common good, in Canada and beyond, and rely on charitable status to support their good work through private donations.”
“We the undersigned call on the Canadian government to reject the absurd mean-spirited attack on religious organizations recommended by the NDP-Liberal dominated Finance Committee.”
Executive VP of nonpartisan think tank Cardus Ray Pennings told Christianity Today the committee’s move to remove charitable status from religious groups speaks “to a cultural narrative that is being pushed by some in which the intrinsic value of religion is no longer understood as a public good.”
