Finance Dept. silent on pro-life charities’ status in Nov. 4 budget; groups fear Liberal plan to strip tax perks amid FINA recommendations.
Newsroom (04/11/2025, Gaudium Press ) The Department of Finance has refused to explicitly confirm whether pro-life non-profits will retain their charitable status in the federal budget set to be tabled Nov. 4, leaving advocacy groups on edge amid longstanding Liberal pledges to strip such designations from anti-abortion organizations.
For more than a week, The Catholic Register pressed the department’s media relations team for a straightforward answer. An initial email from a departmental spokesperson, under Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne, stated that the government “is not at this time considering removing the advancement of religion as a qualifying charitable purpose under the Income Tax Act.”
When queried specifically about anti-abortion groups — the federal terminology for pro-life entities — the response reiterated the same line on faith-based charities, avoiding the terms “pro-life” or “anti-abortion” entirely. Pressed further on whether pro-life organizations are viewed as faith-based charities, a communications officer replied: “As per the response we provided — we have nothing to add.”
The email exchanges were shared with Campaign Life Coalition (CLC), the political wing of Canada’s pro-life movement. CLC national president Jeff Gunnarson described the evasiveness as “deeply alarming.”
“It is deeply alarming that the Department of Finance, when asked directly, refuses to confirm that pro-life organizations will not be stripped of their charitable status in the forthcoming Nov. 4 budget,” Gunnarson said in a statement. “In the absence of any reassurance, we are left to assume the worst — that the government may in fact be preparing to revoke charitable status from pro-life groups.”
Concerns intensified last December with the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance (FINA) pre-budget report, which included Recommendation 429 urging the budget to “no longer provide charitable status to anti-abortion organizations.” A companion measure, Recommendation 430, sought to amend the Income Tax Act by eliminating “advancement of religion” as a charitable purpose.
FINA chair and Liberal MP Karina Gould has since confirmed that Recommendation 430 will not appear in the budget. The Finance Department echoed this on religious designations but remained silent on pro-life groups.
Gunnarson argued that targeting anti-abortion entities could indirectly jeopardize churches. “Let us be absolutely clear: many churches and dioceses operate pro-life ministries from within their own parish buildings and chancery offices,” he said. “If the government retains the committee’s recommendation to remove charitable status from ‘anti-abortion organizations,’ it would function as a back-door mechanism to strip churches of their charitable status as well.”
He added: “Dropping the proposed amendment to remove the privileged status of ‘advancement of religion’ as a charitable purpose alone is not enough. The clause targeting pro-life groups must also be scrapped, otherwise churches remain directly in the line of fire.”
Toronto Archbishop Cardinal Francis Leo voiced parallel fears in a Feb. 21 letter to then-Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc. “If this recommendation were to pass, every Catholic Church and social service agency in Canada would lose its charitable status due to our ‘pro-life’ approach,” Leo wrote. He noted that these beliefs underpin Catholic operations, including hospitals, aid for the vulnerable, and support for migrants and refugees.
Pregnancy Care Canada (PCC), a faith-based network supporting 80 pregnancy centres, declined comment pending the budget’s release. In its summer submission to FINA, executive director Laura Lewis urged rejection of Recommendation 429, warning it “would harm thousands of Canadians who voluntarily access these services, especially vulnerable women facing unplanned pregnancies.”
Lewis also criticized the recommendation’s lack of clarity: “This ambiguity places hundreds of legitimate charities at risk.”
The Liberals’ 2021 election platform vowed to end charitable status for “anti-abortion organizations that provide dishonest counselling to women about their rights and about the options provided to them at all stages of pregnancy” — a commitment Gunnarson said underscores years of party intent.
As the budget looms, Gunnarson called for action: “We urge Canadians of faith to pray earnestly that this recommendation is not included in the budget, and to remain vigilant in defending both the fundamental right to life and the charitable works that flow from it.”
- Raju Hasmukh Catholic Register
Related Images:
