Government Relations Committee Update

Posted on December 6, 2022

Dear AFP Greater Vancouver Members,

Your Government Relations committee is pleased to share with you an update about recent advocacy work on behalf of the membership base.

Federal advocacy update:

Across the country members of AFP Canada continue to advocate on your behalf for the creation of a dedicated secretariat for the non-profit sector.
Our sector contributes $169 Billion annually to the economy and employs 2.4 million Canadians yet is one of the largest sectors without representation in government.
In British Columbia, our sector contributes $24.3 Billion and employs 331,000 British Columbians.
Since launching in October, we have held 25 meetings with MPs and Ministers across Canada and I am happy to inform you that our province is leading the charge.
We have been invited to present in front of the Liberal Pacific Caucus sometime in the new year, we have learned that several members are supportive of this initiative.
We are planning to meet with several other Liberal MPs as we enter 2023.

Provincial Update:

We recently hosted two MLAs at our National Philanthropy Day, hopefully you were able to attend to hear from Niki Sharma – the Parliamentary Secretary for Community Development and Non-Profits. We also hosted Kelly Green MLA Richmond-Steveston, who has an interest in our sector.
In Victoria, you may know that David Eby recently became the new Premier of the province and has confirmed that he will be shuffling his cabinet on Thursday December 7^th.
We believe that this will only be a minor shuffle and should not impact our ongoing advocacy work with the Parliamentary Secretary for Community Development and Non-Profits.
Your committee will follow this closely to determine if the mandate letter for this secretariat has changed to determine any finetuning that might be required.
Our written submission for BC Budget 2023 seems to have been well received by the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services. Our chapter received a specific mention in the Report on Budget 2023 Consultation (Pg. 96).