The federal cutbacks announced in September directly undermine Canada's charities and non-profits.   Learn how serious the implications of the cutbacks are from The Muttart Foundation’s letter to Prime Minister Harper, with copies to the President of the Treasury Board and to leaders of the Opposition parties formally expressing its concerns.
Click here to download a copy of the letter ( PDF - 216 KB)

Tides Canada also expressed its concern particularly in reaction to a September 28th Vancouver Sun editorial rhapsodizing that Finance Minister “Flaherty has taken a scythe to useless and wasteful spending on bloated bureaucracies, failed programs and special interest groups.”  

“Indeed Flaherty raised his scythe and swung far to cut a wide swath across valuable non-profit programs and organizations.   About $200 million of the billion of announced cutbacks directly undermines Canada's charities and non-profits. For example, it eliminated funding for the Canada Volunteerism Initiative, stripping resources from organizations promoting volunteerism across Canada. A useless program?  Definitely Not.  According to Statistics Canada, More than 12 million Canadians provide 2 billion hours of volunteer work annually , an amount equivalent to 1 million full-time jobs. These cutbacks to the voluntary sector represent false economies.
Tim Draimin