Few Canadians think about public policy, though it touches our lives in innumerable ways every day. Taken together, the policy choices made by Canadian governments over time have created a range of societal features most of us simply take for granted. But, of course, our collective safety and security, wellbeing, and prosperity do not appear…
Contents: Volume 25 (2013-14)
A Pemsel Case Foundation Occasional Paper 1. Introduction Under the present income tax law of Canada, corporations, trusts, and organizations that are registered charities are exempt from taxation on their income and may issue receipts to donors that will entitle them to credits against their tax otherwise payable if they are individuals and deductions in computing…
Introducing Democracy Talks The university students sitting around the table at the Citizens’ Academy in Ottawa have never met before, but you wouldn’t know it from all the laughter. After the facilitator starts the meeting, all the students are asked to identify themselves and a social or political issue that concerns them. The students have…
Professional and personal evolution I have spent my career in two kinds of institutions that most people see as remote from reality: universities and foundations. More than a decade of designing and directing university environmental programs made me wonder whether anything I had learned or taught in the academic world had much to do with…
Charities are subject to real limits on political activity. However, these limits do not prevent thoughtful and careful policy advocacy related to charitable purposes. Notwithstanding current political pressure on environmental charities, the CRA policy on advocacy by charities is actually quite broad.1 The Income Tax Act distinguishes between charitable purposes and charitable activities. What qualifies…
Human Resource Management In The Nonprofit Sector: Passion, Purpose And Professionalism Edited by Ronald J. Burke & Cary L. Cooper Northamption, MA: Edward Elgar; 2012 ISBN 978-0-85793-729-2 Nonprofit organizations, as the mission-driven agents of change, are moving from the margins to the centre of our social fabric, especially as government spending on social programs, as a…
Editor ’s Introduction While Canadian charities have sometimes used the courts to achieve their purposes, they have done so far less than their American counterparts. There are likely several reasons for this, including the cost of litigating, a generally less litigious culture, and courts that have been reluctant to usurp the role of legislators and…
Canadian Public Policy And The Social Economy Edited by Rupert Downing Victoria, bc: University of Victoria; 2012 isbn 978-1-5505-8453-0 This volume elucidates key themes of a unique five-year national social economic research collaboration engaging 350 Canadian researchers—both academics and practitioners. One of the strengths of the collaboration, in my experience as one of the 350,…
Abstract: Canadian charity law has not developed with the clarity and certainty currently found in similar law in many other countries. A new organization, The Pemsel Case Foundation, has been constituted to undertake research about the law of registered and common law charities and qualified donees, conduct education pertaining to that research, and make amicus curiae…
Challenge and opportunity for nonprofits doing public policy advocacy It is a treat that this edition of The Philanthropist is dedicated to public policy. The creation, evolution, and adoption of public policy affect every person in this country in ways large and small. Whether we are driving our cars, choosing how to heat our homes,…