For Immediate Release
September 29, 2005
OTTAWA – The Canadian Bar Association is urging the government to include increased funding for legal aid, parental benefits for self-employed workers, and creditor protection of RRSPs in the next federal budget.
“Our No. 1 priority is more money for legal aid,” says CBA President Brian A. Tabor, Q.C. of Halifax. “The most vulnerable in our society are further disadvantaged by not having access to justice, and the trickle-down effect can be very costly: child poverty and greater demands on social assistance programs.”
While delivery of legal aid is primarily a provincial or territorial responsibility, the CBA is calling on the federal government to show leadership by increasing funding for civil and criminal legal aid, tying federal money to what is actually spent by the province or territory, and setting minimum national standards for access to justice that are guaranteed for everyone.
In its letter to the Finance Committee’s pre-budget consultations, the CBA is also calling for self-employed workers to be put on equal footing with their employed counterparts when it comes to maternity and parental benefits. While the constitutionality of special benefits under the Employment Insurance Act is currently before the Supreme Court of Canada, the federal government did sign an agreement in March 2005 with Quebec to implement that province’s insurance plan.
“The Quebec plan serves as a possible model to extend benefits to all self-employed workers in Canada,” says the CBA letter.
Creditor-proofing of RRSPs is another priority for the CBA. “Retirement schemes should be fair to self-employed professionals, as well as Canadians in small and medium-sized business – in other words, those who rely most heavily on RRSPs for their retirement income,” says the letter.
“The CBA was pleased to see this introduced in Bill C-55, and we will provide a comprehensive analysis of the bill,” adds Mr. Tabor.
The CBA is also calling on the government to make changes in two other areas:
- Eliminate red tape in the regulation of registered charities from a tax perspective;
- Amend the Income Tax Act to allow RRSPs and RRIFs to be rolled over to a trust for a spouse or common-law partner.
Jim Parks, Chair of the CBA’s National Charities and Not-for-profit Law Section, will present the CBA views on registered charities only to the Standing Committee on Finance on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2005, Room 269 West Block. To view the CBA’s letter to the Finance Committee, please visit:
http://www.cba.org/CBA/submissions/pdf/05-37-eng.pdf
The Canadian Bar Association is dedicated to improvement in the law and the administration of justice. Some 35,000 lawyers, law teachers, and law students from across Canada are members.
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CONTACT: Hannah Bernstein, Canadian Bar Association, Tel: (613) 237-2925, ext. 146; E-mail: hannahb@cba.org.
