Is it? That seems inaccurate. Harper's involvement was funding the audit program that already existed.Originally Posted by Melvin
From an 2014 article on the subject:
https://rabble.ca/columnists/2014/07...per-governmentThe federal government has turned a blind eye to that kind of political action for years, and even formally legitimized it in its 1985 amendments to the Income Tax Act, specifically permitting political activities by charities, subject to specified limits. CRA has recognized that there is significant public benefit to allow charities to speak out, within limits, and has published extensive guidelines on what activities are political, and what are not.
Fundamentally, a charity's purposes and activities must still be charitable, and political activities must be only "ancillary and incidental" to the charitable purposes.
CRA has clarified that up to 10 per cent of the charity's resources can be used for political activities and advocacy provided they do not support a particular political candidate or party, and are:
"connected with, and subordinate to, the Charity's charitable purposes, and
based on well-reasoned positions."
The rub is determining when political activities become so significant a part of an organization's activities that they cease to be ancillary and incidental.
Here's the policy.
https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-age...ties.html#toc1Reference number
CPS-022
Effective date
September 2, 2003
This policy statement replaces Information Circular 87-1, Registered Charities – Ancillary and Incidental Political Activities, and provides information for registered charities on political activities and allowable limits under the Income Tax Act (the Act). It also provides a framework that explains how we distinguish between political and charitable activities. In addition, it seeks to clarify the extent to which charities can usefully contribute to the development of public policy under the existing law.
The guidance in this policy statement is based on subsections 149.1(6.1) and 149.1(6.2) of the Act and on general principles of charity law and court decisions that define what is charitable and what is political. This information applies to all registered charities.
The Liberals vowed to change the policy.
You can thank Bill C-86 (Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 2 - A second Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on February 27, 2018 and other measures). https://openparliament.ca/bills/42-1/C-86/On August 15, 2018, the Honourable Diane Lebouthillier, Minister of National Revenue, and the Honourable Bill Morneau, Minister of Finance, issued a joint statement on the Government of Canada’s commitment to clarify the rules governing the political activities of charities. They confirmed the Government would amend the Income Tax Act to implement changes consistent with recommendation no. 3 of the Report of the Consultation Panel on the Political Activities of Charities.
To move forward with its commitment, the Government released draft legislative proposals on September 14, 2018, with a 30-day public consultation period, which would remove the existing quantitative limits on charities’ political activities, while still requiring that charities be operated for exclusively charitable purposes.
Taking into account feedback the Government received from stakeholders in response to the consultation on the draft legislative proposals, the Government has revised its legislative proposals. The information released by the Government on October 25, 2018, proposes new measures which will allow a charity to carry out unlimited “public policy dialogue and development activities” in support of its stated charitable purposes. Consequently, the Canada Revenue Agency will release updated questions and answers and information for charities on the administration of the new rules by the end of the calendar year.
https://www.canadiancharitylaw.ca/bl..._royal_assent/On Thursday December 13, 2018, Bill C-86 received Royal Assent. Within this Bill, there are several changes to the Income Tax Act related to charities, especially with regards to political activities. The change allows Canadian registered charities to conduct public policy dialogue and development activities (PPADA) connected to the legal purpose of the charity as long as they are not directly or indirectly partisan. We are awaiting guidance from CRA on how they will interpret the new provisions on political activities. Also the CWP decision will probably one day end up in the Supreme Court of Canada and perhaps they will have a thing or two to say about political activities and how purposes and activities relate to registered charity status.
* * * Edit * * *
I dug a little more. I believe you were referring to the Harper era budget omnibus Bill C-38 (Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act). Now I see what you're saying.
Here's a snip of an article from 2014 on the subject.
https://rabble.ca/columnists/2012/09/changes-income-tax-act-will-restrict-charities-political-activitiesWe provide a brief summary of the current legislative provisions, the proposed changes, and the impact of the changes on charitable foundations and organizations.
Current situation
As currently defined in the ITA, charitable purposes include the disbursement of funds to qualified donees, usually other charities.
Charities are permitted to disburse funds as a gift to other qualified donees.
If some of the gifted money is used by the recipient/qualified donee for political purposes, that does not need to be accounted for in the political activities of the granting charity. Only the recipient of the funds must account for its political activities with the use of those funds. Under current guidance and court decisions, the accepted rule is that charities can conduct up to 10 per cent of their activities for political purposes, if those activities are ancillary and incidental (subordinate) to the charitable purpose.
Proposed changes
Bill C‑38 proposes to change the definition of "charitable purpose," to exclude disbursement of funds to a qualified donee where the gift funds a political activity of that qualified donee.
Bill C‑38 will also amend the ITA to introduce a legislative framework in relation to political activities. The definition will read as follows:
'political activity' includes the making of a gift to a qualified donee if it can reasonably be considered that a purpose of the gift is to support the political activities of the qualified donee.
Thus, the making of a gift to a qualified donee, where the gift is for a political activity, is not a charitable purpose.
The definition for "political activity" only requires that a purpose of the gift is to support political activities, and not that the entire gift be used for political activities. Even if only a part of the gift were used by the qualified donee for the purpose of political activities, the entire gift would be considered a political activity for the donor charity.
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