I know the title sounds a little harsh but I recently checked a list that the CRA maintains of municipalities that are “qualified donees” or groups that are able to issue official donation receipts and yes CRA has “terminated” some municipalities like the Village of New Norway in Alberta.  Actually a quick Google search brings up “As at Nov. 1, the Village of New Norway ceased to exist as such, and officially becomes part of Camrose County, as the Hamlet of New Norway.”  I guess if your municipality disappears then CRA will list it as terminated on their database.

Just in case you think that CRA does not like Alberta there here are the number of terminated municipalities in each province:

  • Alberta  2
  • Manitoba  68
  • New Brunswick 5
  • Northwest Territories 1
  • Nova Scotia 3
  • PEI 15
  • Quebec 6
  • Saskatchewan 9

In some cases, there is a note such as “Amalgamated with Rural Municipality of Bedeque & Area”.  In other cases, there is no explanation. It is not clear if any of these terminations are as a result of misbehaviour by a municipality such as issuing inappropriate receipts but there is no indication that this applies to any of the municipalities.

If a municipality loses its qualified donee status it cannot issue official donations receipts or receives gifts from registered charities.