CCA Bulletin 30/10 - Why Bill C-470 should be defeated

Just the facts

As reported in CCA Bulletin 22/10, Bill C-470 has passed second reading in the House of Commons and is now heading for study by the standing committee on finance. Introduced by the Hon. Albina Guarnieri (Liberal, Mississauga East – Cooksville), this private member’s bill would allow the Minister of National Revenue to deregister any charitable organization, public foundation or private foundation that has paid any employee $250,000 or more in total compensation. This would put an unprecedented compensation cap on charitable organizations and foundations. It would also allow the minister to publish the names and compensation details of a charitable organization’s or a foundation’s five highest earning employees, regardless of their compensation level.

While many cultural workers in Canada need not lose sleep over having their salaries capped at a quarter million dollars, Bill C-470 has consequences not only for a number of major arts organizations, but also for the smaller ones. This is why the Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA) has asked to appear in front of the committee and at the request of the committee’s clerk, has sent, like many other charitable organizations in Canada, a one pager which outlines the reasons for its opposition to the bill, at least in its current form. (more)