Premiers ask PM to extend tax deadline for charitable donations

In a bid to help charities whose fundraising efforts have been disrupted by the weeks-long Canada Post strike, premiers across the country are calling on the federal government to extend the deadline for those who want to claim charitable donations on their 2024 taxes.

On Tuesday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford addressed the prime minister directly in a letter written on behalf of Canada’s premiers. Ford wrote that the Canada Post strike “prevented many donors from making their usual holiday donations.”

“For this reason, we are joining charitable organizations from across the country in urging the federal government to extend the deadline for claiming 2024 charitable donations until the end of February 2025,” he added. “This extension would provide much needed support to both charities and the Canadians who rely on their services.”

The Salvation Army reported over the weekend that holiday donations had fallen by 50 per cent this year, which it attributes to the strike.

According to advocates from the group Imagine Canada, an umbrella organization for the charitable and non-profit sector, many Canadians donate to charities in the last eight weeks of the year and an estimated 40 per cent of all donations are made during the holiday season.

“A large proportion of donors still donate by mail, and these donations [were] not being delivered during the labour dispute,” Bruce MacDonald, President and CEO of Imagine Canada wrote in a statement earlier this month. “The postal strike also means that many organizations were not able to send donation appeals via direct mail this year.”

“There’s no doubt that the strike has a significant impact on donations, with organizations already reporting significant losses,” he added.

Trudeau’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

With files from The Canadian Press.