Labour Fund Reporting Requirements Enacted

The Income Tax Act was recently amended to enact unprecedented and potentially onerous public disclosure obligations on labour organizations and investment funds in which labour organizations or persons represented by a labour organization have an interest.

The amendment enacts a private member's bill to amend the Income Tax Act. It imposes unusual public disclosure requirements on labour organizations, including trade unions, and also on "labour trusts". A labour trust is defined broadly to include "a trust or fund ... established or maintained in whole or in part for the benefit of a labour organization, its members or the persons it represents". It is unclear whether the definition covers a trust or fund of which only a subset or a small number of such members or persons are beneficiaries. There are specific exemptions for registered pension plans, deferred profit sharing plans, employee life and health trusts, private health services plans, group sickness or