December 14, 2012
Bill C-377
On December 12, 2012 the Federal Government passed Bill C-377. The bill will force every labour organization in Canada (26,000 local unions across Canada) to file detailed financial information, including the names and addresses of companies and individuals paid more than $5,000 cumulatively in a year. This information would be posted publicly on a Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) website. The government spins this as being about union transparency. In fact, it is more about helping employers, the Conservative Party and special interest groups with close ties to them. Bill C-377 will tip the balance of labour relations in Canada.
C-377 is so wide that it would mean even private contractors who clear parking lots or provide janitorial services in union offices will have their names, addresses and the amounts paid to them publicly posted on a national website paid for by the Canadian Taxpayer, even your child's name may be posted on the website if the Health & Welfare plan covers medical expenses for your family. The Canadian Bar Association says that Bill C-377 is so deeply flawed that it should have been withdrawn. The CLC estimates that it will cost the Canadian Taxpayers anywhere from $32 million to $45 million a year to set up a regime and oversee compliance of Bill C-377 while at the same time Stephen Harper's government is shutting down the coast guard station on the Vancouver harbour, Canada's busiest waterway, in order to save $900,000 a year. The government shut down the St. John's Search and Rescue Call Centre to save $1 million a year. Ottawa is also laying off food inspectors and corporate tax auditors, and it is not following up on billions of dollars of lost revenue stashed away in offshore tax havens.
No corporation, charity or special interest group, such as the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Merit Shop Associations or the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, is subject to the kind of financial reporting that this bill dictates for unions.
Union members can deduct their union dues from their income tax and according to Mr. Russ Hiebert MP from White Rock BC who supported the bill, that means unions should provide minute details of their financial transactions to the public at large. Of course, others such as doctors, lawyers, accountants and people in any number of other occupations can deduct their professional association fees from their income tax as well. Yet Bill C-377 will not apply to any of those associations. There is no justifiable explanation for this obvious discrimination and for the intrusion into the everyday workings of what are private organizations owned and directed by their members. This is a fact recognized by provincial jurisdictions that require unions to make financial statements available to their members, not the public.
Learn how your MP voted by clicking here.