Bill C-470 Canadian salary cap for registered charities - simply the wrong approach

A bill to impose a salary cap on Canadian registered charities has passed 2nd reading and will shortly be reviewed by the Finance Committee of the House of Commons.  As they say, there is usually one simple solution to a complex problem that is totally wrong.  To have a single cap for all Canadian charities means that Canadian hospitals, research institutions, and universities will not even have a chance of being able to compete with other similar institutions around the world.  While it sounds appealing to cap salaries at $250,000, a very problematic piece of legislation when you drill down to the details .  You see it is not about what charities want to pay for things - every charity would ideally want everything for free.  Charities need to able to recruit people to accomplish their mission.  Charities should never pay more than they need to.  They should never pay more than fair market compensation.  But you cannot just put a one-size fits all number on what it is.  When there are only a few neurosurgeons you cannot pay what you want - you need to pay something related to the going rate for neurosurgeons or be prepared to do without them.  If you are a small community in the North and you want to have a specialist in your community, you may have to pay that person more than what a comparable hospital in Toronto or Chicago would pay.