QUESTION PERIOD — Finance
Credit Cooperatives
May 11, 2023
My question is for Senator Gold, the Government Representative in the Senate.
It concerns Canada’s financial cooperative sector. The 2023 budget announced changes to the current definition of “credit union” in the Income Tax Act. These changes will guarantee that credit cooperatives can continue to provide a full range of financial services to more than 10 million Canadians and remain competitive in order to prevent Canadian banks from having a monopoly on financial services.
Having spent 38 years in the sector, I am pleased with Canada’s commitment to financial cooperatives. However, these amendments are not found in Bill C-47, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 28, 2023.
Senator Gold, what is the government’s intention with respect to this measure announced in the 2023 budget? Why wasn’t it included in Bill C-47, and when will it be included in a budget implementation bill?
Budget 2023 clearly expresses the government’s intention of making this change to put credit unions on an equal footing in the tax system. The government is taking the time necessary to draft the legislation to roll out this change properly.
As noted in the 2023 tax supplement, the amendment would apply in respect of taxation years of a credit union ending after 2016, providing retroactive support to credit unions.
