By: Arthur Drache More and more often we have been seeing significant payments by businesses to charities, not just modest support of annual campaigns but often payment in the tens of thousands of dollars. The fundamental question which must be understood by both the business and the charity is whether the transfer of funds is […]
Charities – Part of the Great Underbanked?
Every so often the media reports that there are people in the world who do not have access to banking services, the so-called “underbanked”. For those of us in Canada, it is almost impossible to imagine such a situation, given the ubiquity of our banks and the plethora of services that they offer. However, for […]
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Gifts of Cultural Property – Undoing Heffel
Gifts of Cultural Property – Undoing Heffel As part of a package of measures intended to increase support for Canadian artists and cultural events, Budget 2019 included aimed at ending any lingering uncertainty around gifts of cultural property arising from the Federal Court of Justice’s decision in Heffel Gallery Limited v. The Attorney General of […]
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Supporting Non-Profit Journalism
Supporting Non-Profit Journalism By Arthur Drache As had been promised last year, the Government has moved on it undertaking to support non-profit journalism…a promise which had been viewed as contentious in some circles. But as we had predicted, the mechanism to implement this scheme was to create a new category of qualified donees. The key […]
Another Run at the Social Finance Fund
Another Run at the Social Finance Fund The 2019 Budget confirms the creation of a Social Finance Fund, which will make investments of federal capital into organizations that are working to remedy Canada’s social challenges. This project has been in the works for a while, beginning with the 2017 creation of a Social Innovation and […]
Budget 2019: Housing strategies
Budget 2019: Housing strategies Budget 2019 was heavy on housing strategies. Among other things, it claims to modernize the Home Buyer’s Plan, which went 10 years without being increased or even adjusted for inflation. Budget 2019 also proposes to introduce the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive, and to start a $100 million fund for third-parties providing […]
Retail Therapy for Governments
Retail Therapy for Governments by: Adam Aptowitzer Pre-election budgets can be predictable in their spending, but in certain circumstances budgets are predictable because they spend. Budget 2019 falls into this unusual class of retail therapy because government revenues are pouring in yet this is a pre-election budget (and this is a Liberal government). Consequently, extra revenues […]
Nothing is More Opaque than Absolute Transparency
Nothing is More Opaque than Absolute Transparency[1] By: Adam Aptowitzer It is no secret that Canada often legislates on the basis of its international commitments. What Canadians often do not realize is that Canada also legislates on the basis of international pressure on it. Such is the case with recent amendments to the Income Tax Act […]
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Changes in Ontario to Director Remuneration
On April 1, 2018, Ontario Regulation 112/18 came into effect amending O. Reg. 4/01 (Approved Acts of Executors and Trustees, hereinafter “Regulation”) [i] under the Charities Accounting Act (the “CAA”). The new provisions modify the existing Ontario common law rule that prohibited a charity from making payments to a director (or any person related to […]
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Fall Economic Update Addresses Sectoral Issues
The economic statement tabled by Finance Minister Morneau on November 22 had a couple of welcome announcements which will touch on at least certain parts of the sector. But there was very little detail available about implementation and we suspect that we’ll have to await the next federal Budget to get those details. The Social […]
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