CANADA: LABOUR ORGANISATIONS


Bill C377 seeks to amend the Income Tax Act (requirements for labour organizations) and was referred to committee on its Second Reading in Canada’s Senate in November 2014


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allowed any citizen to obtain most internal government documents. Government departments and agencies have also long been required to detail their spending in annual Public Accounts, and an independent Auditor-General – an offi cer of Parliament created not long after Canada’s Confederation in 1867 – continues to audit departments and programs for best accounting practices and general effi ciency.


At the federal level, partisan election campaign donors are the benefi ciaries of very


substantial refundable tax credits, and the campaigns themselves receive rebates for spending. As such, campaign spending receives close public scrutiny: the names of all donors of C$200 (£105) or more are published, and all spending is publicly disclosed. Since 1977, Canadian charities – whose donors also benefi t from signifi cant federal tax credits – have been required to publicly disclose their spending divided into a number of relevant categories, including the disclosure of the number of


“Public disclosure will create


greater support for the valuable work that labour organizations do as the public learns how the benefi ts they provide are being used”


employees earning more than C$100,000 (£53,500) annually.


However, one group of institutions that receives substantial support from Canadian taxpayers surprisingly has no requirement to disclose anything about their spending to the Canadian public. This group is labour organizations, commonly known as trade unions in many nations. This is despite the ability of union members to discount from their taxable income the dues they pay, and the tax-free status that


The Parliamentarian | 2015: Issue One | 43


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