Anglican Communion News Service

[Cross talk] In a vigil sponsored by Faith Partners of Ottawa, Canada, Anglican Bishop Peter Coffin and other Ottawa religious leaders have challenged the provincial government to match their donations after they pledged to donate their Ontario tax rebate to the poor.

Addressing a crowd of about 100 people at the Canadian Human Rights Monument, Bishop Peter said he will donate his rebate to the Anglican Community Ministries, which helps street people and the homeless and challenged the government to match his donation.

United Church minister, Sharon Moon, said that the social safety net is in shreds and at the same time the government is giving back cheques that will take billions out of Ontario's tax system.

Msgr. Pat Powers, the Vicar General of the Catholic Archdiocese of Ottawa, said he will be giving his rebate to the Sheperds of Good Hope, whose funding was reduced due to cost-cutting measures by the provincial government. Prominent Ottawa Jewish leader, Rabbi Reuven Bulka, wrote a cheque to the food bank and said the most important and immediate need is for people and thatn these will go immediately to the food bank.

Organizers said that by donating their own tax rebates, the faith leaders are challenging other people to 'think ethically about these tax rebates and make ethical decisions about their use'. The Faith Partners group has been holding weekly prayer vigils at Human Rights Monument since October 1995 in response to the Ontario government's decision to cut welfare rates by almost 22 per cent.

Church and social-policy groups have repeatedly condemned the welfare cuts and the reduction in other social services spending by the conservative government of Premier Mike Harris.