On August 15, 2018, the Government of Canada announced its intention to amend the Income Tax Act to implement changes consistent with Recommendation no. 3 of the Report of the Consultation Panel on the Political Activities of Charities and allow charities to pursue their charitable purposes by engaging in non-partisan political activities and in the development of public policy.

On September 14, 2018, the Department of Finance Canada released for a 30-day public consultation period draft legislative proposals that would deliver on this commitment by removing the quantitative limits on political activities from the Income Tax Act. Under these draft legislative proposals, charities would still be required to be constituted and operated for exclusively charitable purposes, meaning they cannot have a political purpose, and restrictions against partisan political activities would remain. Canadians were invited to provide comments on the draft legislative proposals below by October 13, 2018. For more information, click here.