It’s cynical to free charities for politics

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government appears poised to throw the doors open to allowing charities to participate in political activities. As a first step, National Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier announced last week that ongoing Canada Revenue Agency audits of 12 charities for political activities will be suspended.

They were part of a group of 60 charities which the CRA began investigating in 2012, under the previous Conservative government’s Political Activities Audit Program.

Lebouthillier’s move comes in the wake of a five-member Liberal-appointed panel advising the government in a report released last Thursday, to allow charities to freely engage in political activities, calling the current rules, which go back for decades, too restrictive and confusing.

The minister said she was suspending the 12 outstanding CRA audits — seven of which resulted in an intention to revoke charitable status, according to CBC news — while the government considers all of the advisory panel’s recommendations.

While maintaining the current restriction disallowing charities from endorsing specific candidates or parties, charities would be given far more freedom to engage in political activism under the advisory panel report.

It recommends, for example, removing the current restriction that a charity cannot spend more than 10 per cent of its resources on political activities.

The recommendations of this panel are no surprise given that Trudeau campaigned in the 2015 election on ending what he called the “political harassment” of charities.

But the reality is that concerns about the political activities of charities go back for decades.

The reason is that registered charities are indirectly subsidized by all taxpayers, because they issue tax receipts for donations, providing the donor with a non-refundable tax credit that reduces income tax.

Because they are indirectly subsidized by all taxpayers, it has been argued — at least up to now — that charities should not be overtly partisan in their activities, although they have always been free to comment positively or negatively on government programs.

Finally, it’s hardly surprising the Trudeau government appears poised to allow charities to more freely engage in politics.

That’s because these restrictions have been most vocally opposed by left-wing environmental charities, which have traditionally been far more critical of Conservative government policies, as opposed to those of Liberal governments.

Big surprise.