In Today's National Post....

I have an op-ed regarding the importance of investing in the charitable sector.

There are important lessons to be learned from Canada’s prompt and widely commended response to the January catastrophe in Haiti.

Within hours of the tragedy, Canada’s recently purchased CF-17 heavy lift aircraft were airborne carrying two helicopters with ground crew and equipment. This stood in stark contrast to Canada’s response to the Indonesian tsunami in 2004. Canada’s military transport capacity had not yet been updated and it took several days before the Canadian Forces could lease cargo space from a civilian charter company in order to get aid to where it was needed.

The infrastructure of delivering help to those who need it is not only relevant when it comes to airplanes and responding to disasters. Every day Canadians rely on an extensive foundation provided by the charitable and not-for-profit sector to deliver the sorts of everyday social services that are often taken for granted.

Interestingly, on the same op-ed page is an article by Donald Johnson pumping the merits of an alternative proposal to Cardus' which has been plugged in lead-up to this week's budget. Johnson has proposed that private shares and property be eligible for charitable credit as it is in the US. This proposal is not without its merits, although it would benefit primarily larger charities and larger donors, whereas the 29to42 proposal we have been promoting will benefit the larger groups of lower and middle class income earners who invest from their regular income to charities.

With the throne speech and budget scheduled for delivery later this week, the decisions have probably already been made as to which, if any, of the various proposals (there were five major proposals floated over the past few months) will be included in the government's plans. However, the arguments that we have been raising are not the sort that will end with a single measure in a federal budget. They are fundamental to the sort of society we will be over the course of the decade to come. It may be a bit less memorable than Crosby's goal last night, but arguably it will be of greater impact on the sort of Canada we can expect in the next generation.