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Charities and the Canada Elections Act Amendments Part 2

March 21, 2019

By: Lex Klombies Part II: The Nitty-Gritty on the Canada Elections Act Amendments for Non-Profits and Charities The next Canadian federal election is on October 21st, 2019, and many of our readers are curious about what they need to be mindful of if they engage in public policy dialogue and development activities near election time. […]

Filed Under: Articles, Charities - Current Articles Tagged With: Canada Elections Act, Canada Elections Act Amendment, Lex Klombies, political activities

An Update in the Political Activities Saga

November 28, 2018

Those that have been following the political activities saga will be happy to know that after years of promises, a court case, a blue ribbon Panel, and some annoying dithering the Federal Government has finally tabled legislation in Parliament to allow charities to engage more fully in  ‘Political Activities’. In a previous article on this […]

Filed Under: Articles, Charities - Current Articles Tagged With: Bill-C86, political activities, Ways and Means Motion

Political Activities…Revisited … Again

September 18, 2018

The issue of charities engaging in political activities has been a hot item since 2012. In that year the Harper Government gave $8 million to the CRA Charities Directorate to begin what has been termed the “political activity audits”. Budget 2012 also tightened up the political activity rules which were already in place. It is […]

Filed Under: Articles, Charities - Current Articles Tagged With: Adam Aptowitzer, consultation on political activities, Drache Aptowitzer LLP, Justice Morgan, political activities, Political Activities Audit, political activities audit program

Ontario Court Holds that Political Activities Restrictions Violates Charter Rights

July 26, 2018

By: Arthur Drache In mid-July, Mr. Justice Ed Morgan of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice determined that the Income Tax Act legislation and the CRA’s administrative practices relating to political activities of charities was contrary to the Charter of Rights when restrictions were applied to the (non-party partisan) political activities of charities.[1] The decision […]

Filed Under: Articles, Charities - Current Articles Tagged With: Arthur Drache, Charter Rights, Drache Aptowitzer LLP, Ontario Court, political activities, Political Activities Audit

Election-Time Refresher for Charities on ‘Political Activities’

May 29, 2018

 By: Alexandra Tzannidakis With the Ontario general election coming up on June 7, registered charities should take a moment to review the restrictions on political activities. It is key to remember that registered charities are totally prohibited from engaging in partisan political activities. They can only engage in non-partisan political activities, and only to a limited extent. […]

Filed Under: Articles, Charities - Current Articles Tagged With: CRA’s Advisory on partisan political activities, non-partisan, political activities, restrictions

Where is Promised Progress on Political Activity Rules?

April 23, 2018

Last week, 14 environmental charities met with Finance Minister Bill Morneau to discuss promised changes to the political activities restrictions on charities, and they appear to have come away worried. The federal Liberals campaigned in 2015 on a promise of reforming the stringent political activity limitations that had led to widespread audits of charities under […]

Filed Under: Articles, Charities - Current Articles Tagged With: Alexandra Tzannidakis, political activities, political activities audit program, rules governing political activities

CRA gets the message (again)  

June 16, 2017

By:    C. Yvonne Chenier The Consultation Panel on the political activities of charities that was appointed by the Minister of National Revenue in 2016, recently submitted their report.[1] While the main recommendations of the Panel,  were to “make changes to enable charities to fully participate in public policy dialogue and development”[2] , and to […]

Filed Under: Articles, Charities - Current Articles Tagged With: C. Yvonne Chenier QC, Canada Revenue Agency, charity regulation, consultation on political activities, CRA, political activities

Charter Challenge to Political Activities of Charities

December 19, 2016

By: Alexandra Tzannidakis When the Liberals came into power last year, the new Minister of National Revenue announced that she was putting a halt to the “political activities” audit of charities that the previous administration had been conducting for the past few years.  In practice, this meant that the charities in line to be audited […]

Filed Under: Articles, Charities - Article Archive, Charities - Current Articles Tagged With: Alexandra Tzannidakis, Charity Audit, charity resources, charter, CRA, CRA crackdown, Income Tax Act, ITA, political activities

Act Now or Forever Hold Your Political Activities Peace!

November 16, 2016

By: Sukhdeep Singh Sembi Following the dissolution, earlier this year, of the political activities audit program, the CRA wishes to receive input from the public in order to modernize the rules regarding political activities for charities. The process will consist of email submissions and in-person consultations with representatives from the charity sector moderated by an […]

Filed Under: Articles, Charities - Article Archive, Charities - Current Articles Tagged With: Canada Revenue Agency, consultation on political activities, CRA, CRA Policy Guideline, dissolution of audit program, email submissions, Feedback, political activities, political activities audit program, Rules on political activities, Sukhdeep Singh Sembi

Charity Brings New Charter Challenge to Political Activity Restrictions

October 19, 2016

By: Alexandra Tzannidakis When the Liberals came into power last year, the new Minister of National Revenue announced that she was putting a halt to the “political activities” audit of charities that the previous administration had been conducting for the past few years. In practice, this meant that the charities in line to be audited […]

Filed Under: Articles, Charities - Article Archive, Charities - Current Articles Tagged With: Alexandra Tzannidakis, Canada Without Poverty, Canadian Chatert of Rights and Freedoms, charter, constitutional challenge, Income Tax Act, ITA, minister of national revenue, political activities

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