From: AlanBaggett@volcanomail.com   
      
   The Canada Revenue Agency's political inquisitions : CRA SOTW   
      
   By Steven Zhou, for CBC News Apr 16, 2015 2:54 PM CT   
      
   If a democratic system thrives on participation from a civil society free to   
   express itself without state intervention, then Canadian democracy could use   
   some help these days.   
      
   Citizens who band together into groups that push politicians to engage a   
   problem should, in theory, be a vital aspect of democratic decision-making.   
   Yet the Harper administration, in its infinite political wisdom, has devoted   
   millions of taxpayer dollars    
   via Canada Revenue Agency, formerly Revenue Canada, to, in effect, target   
   groups that are critical of federal policies.   
      
   The CRA launched a series of 60 audits in 2012, and, tellingly, the targeted   
   organizations all seem to espouse views that don't fit so well with the Harper   
   agenda.   
      
   Canadian NGOs with charitable status can devote up to 10 per cent of their   
   resources to political activities, or risk losing their status as a charity   
   under the law. Since 2012, $13 million has been earmarked by the Harper   
   administration to audit    
   organizations that, in the eyes of the CRA, may have devoted too much to   
   political activities.   
      
   These 'political-activity audits' have primarily targeted environmental   
   groups, human rights organizations, and labour-backed think tanks like the   
   Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Meanwhile, more conservative-minded   
   groups like the Manning    
   Foundation or the Fraser Institute have not faced such aggression from the   
   CRA. Many of them have also, like their leftist counterparts, participated in   
   'political activities.'   
      
   'Right-wing' groups don't get same attention   
   Though a CRA spokesperson will come out once in a while to proclaim that the   
   executive branch has no influence over which groups the agency targets,   
   right-wing civil society organizations have yet to receive much attention from   
   the tax agency. Rather,    
   the latest charity to be targeted in a significant way is the United   
   Steelworkers' Humanity Fund, a labour-backed organization that has supported   
   food banks and disaster relief initiatives for over 30 years.   
      
   It has donated about two per cent of its annual revenue to the Canadian   
   Network on Corporate Accountability (CNCA), an umbrella organization that   
   advocates for more accountability in the Canadian mining sector, among other   
   things.   
      
   This support for the CNCA, an organization that hasn't shied away from its   
   political purposes, is apparently what the CRA is zeroing in on. The fund has   
   often butted heads with the Harper administration over labour issues, and   
   wants more oversight of    
   Canadian mining practices abroad, which, according to its president Ken   
   Neumann, is primarily why the CRA began auditing the group's finances last   
   year.   
      
   Such audits can certainly disrupt an organization's day-to-day operations   
   significantly, but this kind of trouble isn't the main reason why these   
   intrusions are bad for Canadian democracy in the long run. Targeted   
   organizations that are forced to go    
   through the lengthy auditing process can, whether the government intends it or   
   not, become examples of what not to say or do in the Harper era.   
      
   Groups practice self-censorship   
   One can hardly blame other charities if they decide to interpret the current   
   inquisitorial atmosphere as being politically motivated. This means that if   
   they want to keep their charitable status, practicing a degree of   
   self-censorship may end up being    
   totally rational. This is an anti-democratic development almost by definition,   
   and it hardly matters whether a particular agenda is behind it all, though the   
   available evidence suggests that Revenue Canada's choices aren't exactly   
   politically neutral.   
      
   Earlier this year, Dying with Dignity Canada lost its charitable status after   
   being audited for about three years. It's a non-profit that advocates for   
   terminally ill patients to have a choice when it comes to euthanasia - not   
   exactly a 'pro-life' stance    
   according to contemporary political standards.   
      
   The CRA says that it made a mistake back in 1982 and 2011 when it confirmed   
   charitable status for Dying with Dignity. It remains a mystery as to how more   
   conservatively minded charities have managed to follow the rules so well as to   
   not even attract the    
   attention of the agency, which has certainly found a new kind of zeal for   
   revoking charitable status.   
      
   Equally mysterious is why there hasn't been more uproar when it comes to the   
   government's auditing targets. The list of charities being investigated and   
   audited by the CRA looks increasingly like Stephen Harper's enemy list. The   
   numbers are so lopsided    
   as to be almost comical, yet no significant amount of public scrutiny   
   coalesced to call for a re-evaluation of the agency's methods.   
      
   Steven Zhou is a Toronto-based journalist and writer.   
      
      
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