Economic Action Plan 2015 Act, No. 1
Bill C-59, Economic Action Plan 2015 Act, No. 1 (the “Bill C-59”), is currently in Second Reading in the House of Commons and has been referred to the Standing Committee on Finance for study. The Standing Senate Committee on National Finance has also commended its Pre-Study of Bill C-59. The Legislative Summary released by Parliament indicates that although “[e]stablished legislative practice would have this bill followed by a second budget implementation bill […] it is possible that there will be only one bill implementing the April 2015 budget” because of the federal election scheduled for October 2015.
Bill C-59 will implement some of the income tax and related measures proposed in the April 21, 2015 Federal Budget (“Budget 2015”), which contained a number of important measures of benefit to the charitable and not-for-profit sector. In particular, Bill C-59 amends subparagraph 149.1(1)(a)(v) of the definition of “qualified donee” and subsection 149.1(26) of the Income Tax Act (“ITA”). Both amendments will change the current ITA references from “foreign organization” to “foreign charity.” The combined result of these amendments will be to clarify that both foreign charitable organizations and foundations are eligible for registration as qualified donees under the ITA, as originally proposed by Budget 2015. Details regarding the other provisions of Budget 2015 affecting charities have yet to be announced.
Division 2 of Part 3 of Bill C-59 enacts the Prevention of Terrorist Travel Act, which is discussed in more detail in the article on New Anti-Terrorism Legislation Introduced, below.
See Federal Budget 2015: Impact on Charities, Charity Law Bulletin No. 363, for further discussion of proposed amendments of Budget 2015.
Bill C-51, Anti-terrorism Act, 2015
Since last reported on in our April 2015 Charity Law Update, Bill C-51, Anti-terrorism Act, 2015 has been passed in the House of Commons, moved to Second Reading in the Senate and has been referred to the Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defence. In addition to introducing two new pieces of legislation, the Security of Canada Information Sharing Act and the Secure Air Travel Act, Bill C-51 enhances the powers given to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service “to address threats to the security of Canada,” provides law enforcement agencies with enhanced ability to disrupt terrorism offences and terrorist activity, makes it easier for law enforcement agencies to detain suspected terrorists “before they can harm Canadians,” creates new terrorism-related offences, and expands the sharing of information between government institutions.
For a discussion of the impact of Bill C-51 on charities and not for profits, see The Impact of Bill C-51 on Charities and Not for Profits, Anti-Terrorism and Charity Law Bulletin No. 39.
Digital Privacy Act
As reported in previous Charity Law Updates, Bill S-4, the Digital Privacy Act, was passed by the Senate on June 16, 2014, and was subsequently referred to the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology. The Committee reported the Bill without amendment on April 22, 2015, and Bill S-4 is now proceeding to the Report Stage and Second Reading in the House of Commons. Bill S-4 proposes amendments to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”), among which is the provision that under certain circumstances organizations will be allowed to disclose personal information to other organizations or to the individual’s next of kin without the individual’s knowledge or consent.
For more information on how Bill S-4 affects PIPEDA, see Charity Law Bulletin No. 341, Digital Privacy Act Proposes Amendments to PIPEDA.
BC Workers Compensation Amendment Act, 2015
On May 14, 2015, Bill 9, the Workers Compensation Amendment Act, 2015 (the “Act”), received Royal Assent in the British Columbia legislature. The Act expands the powers of WorkSafeBC, an independent agency governed by a Board of Directors but appointed by the government to work alongside workers and employers. The Act expands WorkSafeBC’s ability to deal with non-compliance and increases employers’ obligations in respect of workplace health and safety, particularly in the area of inspections and investigations, where a new two stage incident investigation process is being implemented. Further new powers granted to WorkSafeBC by the Act include the power to issue a stop work order at workplaces found to have a high risk of serious injury, serious illness or death to a worker, or reoccurring noncompliance with a provision of the Act, and on the spot fines of up to $1000 for less serious contraventions of the Act.
Charities and not for profits in BC which are subject to the Workers Compensation Act should familiarize themselves with the new regulatory requirements and prepare to revise their internal incident investigation policies as necessary, or otherwise face consequences including financial penalties.