The Canada Revenue Agency is currently conducting extensive audits on some of Canada’s most prominent environmental groups to determine if they comply with guidelines that restrict political advocacy, CBC News has learned.
If the CRA rules that the groups exceeded those limits, their charitable status could be revoked, which would effectively shut them down.
[…]
The list of groups CBC has now confirmed are undergoing audits reads like a who’s who in the environmental charity world. They include:
The David Suzuki Foundation
Tides Canada
West Coast Environmental Law
The Pembina Foundation
Environmental Defence
Equiterre
Ecology Action Centre
“This is a war against the sector,” says John Bennett, of Sierra Club Canada.
Scorched earth, baby.
About bloody time!
“This is a war against the sector,” says John Bennett, of Sierra Club Canada.
I hope so. The sector has been at war with us for a long time.
Thanks to Sun News and Ezra.
Politically, a very gutsy move.
Further thought: Yes! Yes! Yes!
After a long and tiring day, a ray of positive Sunshine in my life.
Thanks Kate, you’ve made my day.
About time. I think TV advertising outing the propagandists is also overdue. Don’t give the usual suspects the opportunity to just hide the facts.
Good news, indeed. What is that quote again, about the mills of the gods?
This is very good news. There should be complete transparency on both sides. We know the Chinese are funding development, lets see who is funding the anti-development.
About bloody time this happened. There needs to be a lot more publicity about the role of foreign interests trying to keep Canadian oil off the market to increase their own profits. If things go as they should, there will be large numbers of traitors in jail.
A read of the CBC comments seems to show complete ignorance of Obozo’s use of the IRS to shut down conservative organizations. Presumably the moonbats are fine with that as well as the intrusion of foreign interests in Canadian affairs. One wonders why the various groups that loudly protest when US interests are thought to be interfering in Canadian affairs are so quiet at this time.
What would be wonderful to see would be if the Canadian government demanded extradition of members of the US terrorist organizations funding anti-Canadian programs so they could stand trial in Canada.
The use of the term “sector” is illuminating: their narcissistic grandiosity is such that they feel entitled to arrogate unto themselves the attributes of a piece of the economy, like the auto sector, or the oil and gas sector. As if the environmental “sector” has done anything other than stand in the way of national wealth creation and economic growth and efficiency.
As you correctly point out, they’ve been at “war” with us. The irony is rich: they don’t even recognize their own double-standard on that count, either.
Wouldn’t it be the height of irony if during this audit it was discovered some of the monies used from these foreign interests found their way into speaking fees for an MP that was running for leadership of the third place party?
This is long overdue, I’m sure they thought they were immune to any scrutiny using the guise of charity for environmental activism.
My prediction is the CBC and the rest of the left leaning propaganda media will tie it back to the CPC flavouring it as idealogical witch hunt citing “sources” while continuing to ignore what the IRS has done in the same vein US side.
Pity our provincial Auditor General wouldn’t bring it upon herself to look at the millions of tax-dollars that some of these groups shoveled themselves when they sat as directors of the GTA Greenbelt.
Oh well, I guess it’s no big deal. After all, Ontario’s Conservative Party didn’t raise a peep about it.
ITS.ABOUT.FRIKEN.TIME!!!
We know who’s fuding the anti-development. What’s needed and what the CRA is doing is finding out if they’ve violated their charitable status under the Canada Corporations Act. Because these are CRA audits, we WON’T find out the details of investigations, any more than the private documents of any taxpaying citizen or corporation would be released.
Details will only be discovered if the audits uncover sufficient wrong-doing that charges are laid and evidence is tabled in a court.
No, Richards in Vancouver, this isn’t a gutsy political move. Any hint that political direction was applied to the CRA will abort the entire thing. The CRA must be seen to be acting as an independent agency. Particularly given the trouble the IRS has created for itself in the US for precisely that reason.
Now everyone just calm down and wait for the results. We’ve already seen last night the propaganda line the ENGOs are attempting. Evan and the boys were trying desperately to find any link between the CRA and the government last night, with Ian Capstick of the Dippers giving the anti-ENGO conspiracy theory as much air as he could. No surprise, they’re all his clients under investigation.
So what’s started now by the ENGOs is a propaganda war. They can get this thing called off if they generate enough public perception that they are being persecutued for political reasons, even if there’s no substance to this. So everybody just STFU and stop pouring gasoline on the bonfire the ENGOs are trying to build. Let the CRA do its job. At most the message should be that CRA is just doing its job, investigating these as its investigated thousands of other groups and individuals.
The time for celebration comes AFTER indictments have been laid, not before.
I look forward to the results of the audits.
If they want to advocate for something, do it on their own money.
Hey greenies, bombs away. You can now yell incoming. This is war after all.
If the more than useless PR department of this CPC government does not make Canadians aware that these so called charitable agencies are acting for foreign groups and governments who are undermining Canadian sovereignty then this effort will backfire. The eco movement has been a primary tool being used to prevent Canada from exporting crude oil via pipelines to overseas markets. No pipelines no market OTHER than the USA.
The CPC government’s latest blackeye centered on the rationalization of Veterans Affairs into existing offices across the country. That is all that had to be said. Instead the CBC got away with leaving public perception as the government simply closing services to vets. It is such a poor handling of this issue it makes me wonder if the government has been infiltrated by those bent on its defeat.
Now we have the CPC party ignoring party nomination rules by issuing a waiver to allow a Red Tory to run for the party nomination in Lethbridge/Ft.MacLeod. This is the same ‘top down’ BS that led to the formation of the Reform Party. It is the same thing that happened in the Manitoba by-election. Who actually controls this Party? It is becoming more obvious to the rank and file membership that it is not the grassroots through constituency organizations. Apparently it is Party people in Ottawa who know best.
There are a lot of Party members out West who are not happy. The CPC and PMSH had better think long and hard about how they are managing things. I am in a supposedly solid conservative seat and I suspect that re-election here is not a given. If that is the case then 2015 could be a real surprise for Party mandarins in Ottawa. For the majority of politicans it is not the philosophy that drives them it is the power and what can be garnered from it.
I have mixed feelings, too. The government shouldn’t be using the tax agency for political purposes. The media, seeing one of their ideological kin being targeted, will go after the government hard. They should, of course, but not just for cases affecting progressive causes.
OTOH, those who are most likely to support the enviros are also ones who, as statists, have no problem with security theater at airports and government meddling in private business and with individuals. Remind them of how many times they said the words “if you have nothing to hide then…”
Finally, I think that the ENGOs are too political and should either 1)attempt to change the rules for everybody 2)stop being political and comply with the rules 3)forget the charity facade and be a political entity.
One other thing, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some unusual suspects funding ENGOs. It’s not just progressives. There’s also competitors who are looking to undermine their rivals. Fossil fuel companies can play dirty, too. Example: gas companies trying to regulate coal into bankruptcy, oil companies drooling at the thought of cap and trade because they can make a buck and pass on any costs. I’d like to see all of these groups exposed so the debate about energy and climate will be out in the open.
Finally, it was about time!
But as cgh says, “The time for celebration comes AFTER indictments have been laid, not before.”
CT, hear, hear, on all counts!
The relaxing of the rule in the party nomination in Lethbridge/Ft.MacLeod is disgusting. From what I have heard in the media, Barlow is a progressive, nothing conservative about him.
I unfortunately work with the CRA a lot. I agree with cgh, I doubt there has been any political direction. There probably have been complaints from people like us. The political activity has been obvious. I doubt there will be any indictments, probably a loss of charitable status.
It’s cold here in Vancouver this morning, but as I go out the door to work, I am going to have a smile on my face.. Good news Mr. Harper.This should make for interesting reading when the time comes.. Love it!
A look at the comment section will affirm your prediction.
All too true, LC. We know there are lots of the usual suspects, and some not so obvious ones as well. A solid rule of thumb is always follow the money. And yes, the oil companies have been playing the dirty tricks game for decades. They started funding antinuclear movements clandestinely back in the 1970s. They know an existential threat when they see one, which the renewables will never be.
Greg, I’m just fine with loss of charitable status. That alone will hit the green swine much harder than any public indictment over taxes ever could. Their revenues will shrink and their costs will go up mightily when they can no longer pay for things with donation receipts. You can defeat an enemy by destroying their army in the field, or much more effective you can eliminate their line of supply and “make them come out with their hands up and their tongues out”.
I was going to say that too, Greg. Ezra’s investigative pieces have had ordinary citizens complaining especially when it’s so egregious as Suzuki stumping for political candidates. Didn’t he resign from a position over that?
It’s time to lift the rock and get some light on Canada’s extremist left wing underworld.
Go Canada go!
Best news I’ve heard in decades!! Best news for economic growth; best news yet for the environment so ill-served by these rent-seeking “Greens”.
Diversity of Tactics, baby!
While Ezra and Sun News played a big part in bringing this scandal to table, it was a soft spoken woman from B.C. named Vivian Krause who analyzed the tax returns of these organizations and dogged them continually for more and more information. Canadians owe her a debt for the painstaking work she did to undercover the truth.
“Greg, I’m just fine with loss of charitable status.”
“You can defeat an enemy by destroying their army in the field, or much more effective you can eliminate their line of supply and “make them come out with their hands up and their tongues out”.”
Well said on both counts. However it would be a bonus if there were some indictments.
Oh no! You mean Bridget Papette and her ilk are going to be on the welfare rolls where they belong??
She is going to miss the old days when she got payed 20 bucks an hour to do nothing all day in the house of commons.
“CBC News has repeatedly asked Ethical Oil to reveal who their funders are but no specific list has been made public”…wonder if CBC has asked (or will ask) the 7 who their funders are?
Nothing clandestine about this if it is true LC, that is precisely what this arm of government does, and if these self loathing parasitic creeps (Suzuker) are doing what everyone with a brain in their heads know they are doing then, take away their charitable status like any other dirty organization. If we don’t take a stand and turn this around now we will have the Russian, Italian, or the Tamil Tigers taking out charitable status and shaking down old people in homes like WWF and their ilk already do, only it won’t be with doe eyed polar bears on TV.
It’s about time these shady organizations are dealt with.
So, why does CBC portray Cameco as a nasty corporation in their audit story and suggest what the money could pay for – see http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/ottawa-accuses-cameco-of-multi-million-dollar-tax-dodge-1.1860079 – and then portray how environmentalists are being attacked by the CRA?
Charities are registered under the Income Tax Act and their relationship with CRA is quite different than that of private corporations or citizens. Basically a charity’s financial and operational activities must be completely open to the public. For example the following are available at the CRA website or on request.
•a copy of the public information from a charity’s annual information return and financial statements;
•a copy of letters the CRA has sent to a charity about the grounds for revocation or annulment;
•a copy of letters or notices the CRA has sent to a charity about a suspension or an assessment of tax or penalty
It’s CRA’s job (with help from the public) to scrutinize all charities and investigate alleged non-compliance. CRA doesn’t need “the Government” to instruct them who to investigate.
From TIDES CANADA 2012 Charity return:
QUESTION: Did the charity carry on any political activities during the fiscal period?
ANS: No
Ken and cgh, I must respectfully disagree. Now is when we celebrate.
The Canadian government just took an unprecedented move to protect this country from malign foreign influence. Consider for a second those words: malign, foreign influence.
Meaning people who are not friends of Canada manipulating Canadian media and Canadian election for purposes which do not forward the good of the country. And its been that way since the 1960s at least. Probably longer.
American liberals have been using Canada as a test-bed for their utopian ideas since forever, with the full cooperation and support of the Liberal Party of Canada. Gun control, single payer medicine, ecofreakism on a national scale, crazy labor regulations, leftist education with no math in it, you name it. All this crap comes out of think-tanks in the USA, gets transformed into policy papers and lobby fodder by the Liberal Party affiliated policy mills on Sparks Street in Ottawa, gets adopted after a propaganda campaign by CBC/CTV/Global and the Toronto papers, abysmal results get ignored in favor of the Next Big Idea out of the think tanks.
Canadian governance is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the New York/LA liberal elite. We’re their guinea pig.
The Conservative Party of Canada just put a round across their bows. That’s as big a notice of political change in this country as you’re ever going to see. That’s the CPC pointing a gun at their wallets. Whole bunch of well-connected Greenies are out there today sh1tting their collective pants and wondering how they’re going to make payroll.
Its not the end of the Greenies. Its not the beginning of the end. But it is the end of the beginning. [puffs on stogie] And its worth a hearty attaboy to the CPC, and a hoist of the celebratory stein to Harper and company for having the guts to go against Big Green in a way that really hits them where they live. Follow that money and shut off the tap, baby.
Huzzah!
one needs only ask who benefits from the “actions” of these charitable orgs. The answer will most likely reveal who funds them. Many in here have pointed to the usual suspects, but often fail at the complete list. LC does point to more on that list but no one has mentioned the biggest benefactors, gov’t through taxes and oil companies through profit margins, so the febs would be shooting themselves in the foot by causing their demise. I suspect that they will have their actions curtailed so to allow some new development in both exploration ad transport/sales, thus getting out of the road on the XL pipe and the TransCanada pipes, eastward and westward, while not killing the “golden tax goose”.
DR Fruit Fly should simply run for the Liberals instead of egging them on from the sidelines. He intervened massively for Dalton McGuinty in Ont and for J Murray in the leadership campaign
Not that he would welcome debate, or frank questions. Dissolving into obscenely laded screeching at awkward questions isn’t usually a winner for a politician, maybe he should stay where he is. That is David Suzuki, formerly associated with The David Suzuki Foundation.
The comments to the CBC article are interesting – they seem to be fully supporting this action by the government.
I don’t agree, Phantom. You don’t spit in the soup before it’s properly heated. To mix metaphors, you celebrate when the deer’s in the bag, not when it’s in the crosshairs. Too much gleeful ranting on our side could just queer this thing. Rather than politicizing it, we need to smack down attempts by the green slime to politicize it.
The constant refrain has to be, “Just let the CRA do its job.”
This one’s going to be very interesting. Anyone been looking at the revisions in the Act to Elections Canada? Investigations of irregularities will now be done by an independent commissionier, not Elections Canada itself. This could be a huge effect. The previous head of EC was Jean-Pierre Kingsley, a died-in-the-wool Liberal Party hack appointed by the Chretien government. Of course he wasn’t going to investigate ENGO irregularites in campaign participation.
But an independent investigations office? Now that’s a horse of a different colour entirely. I trust the green slime are feeling quite threatened by now, simply through a government actually using the tools of governance it’s required to enforce by law.
“The constant refrain has to be, “Just let the CRA do its job.””
Exactly! And one can also add, “If they have nothing to hide why would they object?”
It is the money laundering (hiding sources) that should be of concern. The Tides like organizations may be involved in drug & terrorism transactions. In your face
Losing Charitable Status won’t stop foreign funding or legitimate advocacy. It just looks under the rock & reveals the snake for what it is & all to see…
It is the UN that needs to be eliminated & all the sleaze NGO’s like the CBC will disappear. The UN is the common connector to all these NGO’s
JMHO
This is a great start with the potential for much entertainment. Last week we had nothing and now we have thrown down the gauntlet, a call to arms so to speak. The anti oil lobby has had the field to themselves for several decades and suddenly they see a unanticipated challenge with real teeth on their doorstep. Sharp teeth. All the making of a great movie. Stock up on popcorn.
During the War in the Woods on Vancouver Island, organizations I was involved with managed to get Revenue Canada to yank the charitable status of Greenpeace Canada. It felt good but didn’t change any outcomes. It just makes them more angry and “victimized”.
In the war for hearts and minds (politics), keeping the “foreign funding” ammunition against the hysteria pimps and their political equivalents is likely a bonus.
Greg, we’ve already seen their response on that. The dweeb Ian Capstick gave it a trial run last night. The line is that the audit is soaking up resources, taking away from the “useful work that they do.”
In short, putting money in the hands of their tax lawyers rather than paid lobbyists like Capstick and his fellow Dippers.
John, yes it did have an effect. Greenpeace Canada is no longer a revenue generator. Instead it has to be pumped up with contributions fron Greenpeace International. This has cut back considerably on their activities which are now sometimes being funded through other organizations.
“De-charitizing” GPC was a good start, but you have to get all of this hydra’s poisonous heads. And to do that, you go after their money supply.
And what needs to be remembered most in all this, as another poster pointed out, is that the great hero is Viviane Krause. She’s the one who dug up all the financing dirt and let in the light of day.