What prorogation means for new policy and legislation affecting non-profits and funders

When Justin Trudeau announced on Jan. 6 that he would be stepping down as both Prime Minister and Leader of the Liberal Party, Parliament also entered a period of prorogation. In a nutshell, all parliamentary activity will stop, allowing the Liberals to elect a new party leader, and a general election will likely soon follow. 

During prorogation, which lasts until March 24, all bills and legislation that have yet to reach royal assent will be terminated—also known as “dying on the table.” 

Although there are exceptions, most of the time, “in order to be proceeded with in the new session, [bills] must be reintroduced as if they had never existed,” according to the House of Commons website. 

Several bills covering amendments to social assistance, health, and Indigenous rights and sovereignty have been left hanging while Parliament exists in this state. In some cases, this could also delay the continuation of significant initiatives: for instance, the National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking expired in 2024 after being active for five years. Bill S-263, which suggests that the Strategy needs to be maintained and updated, sat at the second reading stage before Parliament was prorogued. 

According to Apathy is Boring, a national, youth-focused advocacy organization, “day-to-day life should not be impacted by this proroguing, as money for things like healthcare, social security and education have been allocated in the budget to provinces.” 

Another open question concerns the proposed extension to the tax deadline for charities whose end-of-year fundraising efforts were affected by the Canada Post strikes.

In a LinkedIn post, Imagine Canada wrote that prorogation “won’t affect the deadline or the spirit of the announcement made by the government to extend the [tax] deadline. […] Organizations and donors need not be worried by the fact that the legislation will be passed after the tax receipt extension.”

Imagine Canada will share a FAQ document they’ve produced with the Department of Finance in the coming days. 

There were 412 bills in this session of Parliament, which began at the last general election and ended earlier this week. Ninety-three received royal assent, and 46 were either defeated or not proceeded with. 

The remainder will not be debated unless they are returned to the table after prorogation has ended. Here are some of the most significant. 

The charity sector

Along with uncertainty about the tax deadline extension, another bill that has now been paused is Senator Ratna Omidvar’s suggestion that non-profits collect demographic data about their boards to track the country—and province-wide diversity of charitable boards. 

It was proposed that this information be collected through an amendment to the Income Tax Act and that non-profits report the composition of their boards per the designated groups in the Employment Equity Act. 

Healthcare

While we’re on the topic of data, Bill C-72 sought to tackle the problem of health technology vendors who have been known to block data sharing between systems. 

The preamble states that “Parliament recognizes that there is a broad consensus among stakeholders that the interoperability of health information technologies and the prohibition of data blocking are necessary to ensure patient safety and to improve health outcomes, and promote equitable care for Canadians.” 

Increased mobility and the rise of virtual health care tools make interoperability a critical part of an updated, robust healthcare system. 

LGBT+ communities 

The Employment Equity Act currently outlines four designated groups that employers must consider increasing representation of in their workplaces: women, visible minorities, people with disabilities, and Indigenous peoples. 

It was due to undergo a modernization to include LGBTQ+ communities as a protected category, but that is now on pause with prorogation, said Tyler Boyce, executive director of The Enchate Network, in a LinkedIn post. 

The National Action Plan to Combat Hate, which promised $12 million in funding to LGBTQ+ communities, is another initiative that will have to start from scratch. The government’s ongoing Federal 2SLGBTQI+ Action Plan, launched in 2022, is also a start-from-scratch initiative. 

“These initiatives weren’t just words on a page – they were commitments, hard-fought wins that reflected years of advocacy and hope,” Boyce said. In the coming weeks, Boyce and his team will be continuing to work with liberal leadership candidates “to ensure 2SLGBTQI+ communities remain a priority.”

Environment and Food 

Several proposed environmental bills are in jeopardy. Just before the year closed out, NDP MP Alistair MacGregor, based in British Columbia, introduced Bill C-421, which sought to establish a national food cooperative strategy. 

The Bill intended to support the establishment of food co-ops around the country as a means of increasing competition in the grocery market and the soaring proportion of Canadians relying on food banks.

Two proposed amendments to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act are also in flux: one that would prohibit exporting and disposing of certain types of plastic waste abroad and another that would prohibit the manufacture of electronic products that contain some toxic substances unless an adequate recycling program is put in place. 

Indigenous Rights and Sovereignty

Bill C-61, also known as the First Nations Clean Water Act, was due to enter the report stage at the House of Commons in December 2024. It would allow First Nations to govern and manage the quality of water systems flowing through their lands and have “authority over the creation and use of data and information relating to water services.”  

First Nations living on reserve are 90 times more likely to be unable to access running water than other Canadians, said National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak at the Assembly of First Nations. 

“This bill is the result of advocacy by First Nations and our Women Water Walkers across Canada, who have long fought not only for the protection of water but to also ensure water and wastewater services for our First Nations meet the same standards as those legislated to other Canadians,” she said. 

Housing 

Housing is an issue largely handled by the provincial and territorial governments and, in some cases, administered by city and municipal governments as well. However, amendments proposed to the National Housing Strategy Act would have had ripple effects down to the provinces and territories. 

For example, Bill C-423 was introduced in December and asked that affordability and security be considered key parts of adequate housing in the country, but that that has been “eroded” by the financialization of the housing market. 

One proposal was to “prioritize the needs of tenants, particularly persons who are members of vulnerable groups, over the interests of investors in residential rental properties.” This could include strengthening rent control measures or “evictions made in bad faith.” 

Bill C-398 also asked that the National Housing Strategy “include measures to prevent the removal of homeless encampments on federal land and identify alternatives to encampments.” It also stated that Indigenous peoples and organizations should be meaningfully involved in developing culturally appropriate housing programs.

Social Assistance 

Several bills were on the table to change social assistance programs and financial benefits. For example, Bill S-233 proposed the development of a national guaranteed livable basic income, which would be edited depending on each region of the country and essential goods and services required in each place to “lead a dignified and healthy life.” This Bill was referred for consideration in committee in 2023 and has not progressed since.

More recently, there was a proposal to increase the full pension each older adult is entitled to by 10 per cent. Another bill wanted to ensure that an individual’s eligibility for the Canada Disability Benefit “must not be affected by their eligibility for other such benefits, their marital status or their household income.”

Young People 

Several bills were in the running to help young people and families navigate harassment, bullying and inappropriate content on the internet, specifically by holding social media platforms and internet service providers accountable. 

The Online Harms Act, in particular, was big news: should it have passed, it would have established a Digital Safety Office, Commission, and Ombudsperson to ensure social media services comply with legislation. Another bill, C-412, would have ensured that young people were protected from content that promotes physical harm, sexual violence, controlled substances, and mental health disorders. 

Senator Rosemary Moodie of Ontario also proposed a National Strategy for Children and Youth, which would have aimed to eradicate child poverty across the country. 

Technology 

Bill C-27—which would have enacted the Consumer Privacy Protection Act, the Personal Information and Data Protection Tribunal Act, and the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA)—has been highly controversial. It has been criticized for various reasons, including having the same government department be responsible for regulating artificial intelligence as it is for advancing the AI industry in Canada. 

Several human and civil rights groups have also pointed out that the legislation was rushed to draft: there was a lack of meaningful public consultation, let alone an incorporation of Indigenous data sovereignty. 

Meanwhile, the Treasury Board Secretariat of Canada has just completed a public consultation project on the use of AI in public services. 

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