June 16, 2016
Law
Making
One of the major roles for Members
of Parliament is to draft laws that impact all Canadians. The reality is that
these laws come from a mix of politics and require a thorough understanding of
the implications of what is being proposed. Let me explain:
A recent example was Bill C-223, An
Act to establish the Canadian Organ Donor Registry, which proposed to
coordinate and promote organ donations throughout Canada. This is a critical
issue for some of my constituents and has my full support. Had Bill C-223 been
approved at second reading, the next step was for it to be sent to the Standing
Committee for Health for discussion and improvement. However, before it could
get that far, it was voted down by the Liberal majority. Bill C-223 was
proposed by a Conservative Member of Parliament, and similar bills have been
proposed by the NDP in past Parliaments. Politics?
Another bill, C-239, provided an
example of a situation in which understanding the details is critical to
creating good public policy. Bill C-239, An Act to amend the Income Tax Act
(charitable gifts), proposed to increase the tax deduction an
individual is entitled to when they make a donation to a registered charity. I
have been a volunteer with, and a donor to, many charitable organizations, so
from a political perspective, how could I not support this bill? As the old
saying goes, the devil truly is in the details.
The Parliamentary Budget Office
(PBO), which undertakes independent analysis of the financial implications of
proposed legislation, found that the implementation of Bill C-239 would cost
the federal government $1.7 billion in 2016 and $1.9 billion in 2020. This
raises the important question: Which social programs could be cut to make up
for the loss in revenue?
The PBO also found that taxpayers
who make more than $91,000 in taxable income would benefit the most from Bill
C-239, since the only proposed constraint on giving was a donation ceiling of
75% of net income. In short, while implementing this bill would potentially
help some charities who have wealthy donors, it would likely not be helpful to
charities who rely on donations from the average Canadian, would be very costly
to the federal treasury while mainly benefiting the wealthiest taxpayers, and
could result in government withdrawal of important services to Canadians.
In the end, Bill C-239 was not
supported by a majority of the Members of Parliament. I would like to see
government find alternatives to help fund the amazing work being done in our
communities by charities – without reducing the scope of the government’s
delivery of services to the people of Kootenay–Columbia.
As you can see, law making is not
easy, and nothing illustrates that better than Bill C-14, Medical Assistance
in Dying. I will update you on it in a separate article once we see where
it goes over the next two weeks.
Wayne
Stetski
Member of
Parliament
Kootenay–Columbia
Unit B 111 7th Ave S Cranbrook BC V1C 2J3
(T) 250-417-2250 (C) 250-464-5509 (F) 250-417-2253
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