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Email: "Tax-Exempt Status a Powerful Tool to Muzzle Churches in Canada"

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"Let's not be blackmailed into giving up our faith," says national pro-life leader BY LifeSiteNews.com OTTAWA, August 23, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – An August 10 LifeSiteNews.com article, quoting a media relations officer of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) saying that charities, which include churches, should “stay away from” issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage during election times, has stirred outrage in many Canadians.  After seeking multiple clarifications from CRA and from others, it is apparent that the regulations regarding charities are unclear and confusing. That, according to the Conservative Critic for National Revenue, Brian Pallister, is a cause for concern. Pointing out the importance of free speech especially during elections, Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin wrote earlier this year, “Liberal democracy demands the free expression of political opinion, and affirmed that political speech lies at the core of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms’ guarantee of free expression.”  She also noted that “The denial of effective communication to citizens violates free expression where it warrants the greatest protection—the sphere of political discourse.” Churches in Canada are, as they in most every part of the world, granted tax-exempt status and able to give charitable receipts for contributions.  However CRA holds the power to strip all charities, churches included, of that most valuable status.  Policies set by regulation and the courts determine what constitutes permissible charitable activity and prohibited activities.  Final determinations on matters are made by the charities directorate – a panel of twelve ‘experts’ in charity law and the CRA policy governing the matter. The CRA in its policy on the matter (http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tax/charities/policy/cps/cps-022-e.html ) states that activities that are prohibited for charities, those which will cause them to have their status revoked, are “partisan political activity.”  However “partisan political activities” are not merely telling congregants to vote for a particular party or candidate.  The policy states, “A partisan political activity is one that involves direct or indirect support of, or opposition to, any political party or candidate for public office.”  That “indirect” support is a matter of interpretation. In seeking to clarify earlier comments from CRA media relations officer Dawna Labonte, LifeSiteNews.com spoke with the Communications Director in the office of the Minister for National Revenue.  Shane Diaczuk, in the office of Minister John McCallum, told LifeSiteNews.com that charities may address issues such as abortion or same-sex marriage during election time.  But all the spokesmen for the department and the office won’t say they can’t answer proposed cases. Dawna Labonte, the CRA media relations officer who earlier told LifeSiteNews.com that charities should “stay away from” certain issues during election times, corrected herself in a subsequent interview.  “My explanation may have been a little too narrow and that’s entirely my fault and I apologize for that,” Labonte said.  “What I should have said is that when a charity is supporting a specific issue they cannot point out a party.” But when asked if a church could tell congregants to vote pro-life as the overriding consideration in voting when parties or candidates differed on the issue, she said: “Well it would have to be taken on a case by case basis.” She added, “If there is only one party supporting that initiative it is indirectly being partisan.  It is supporting the party without being upfront about it.” Christian Girouard another CRA media relations officer said similarly on a case question about the churches urging support for traditional marriage.  Girouard said it is “hard to define how far a charity can go” in that regard.  He said he would have to “consult legal counsel” to get an answer. Conservative Critic for National Revenue Brian Pallister told LifeSiteNews.com that he was very concerned about the situation.  “What it raises with me is the need for a very clear and open discussion and clarification on rules because we would never want to see a situation where a threat of revocation of charitable status could be used to inhibit open discussion on an issue,” he said.  “The more clearly understood the rules are the better to facilitate an intelligent exchange on the issue.” Deacon William Kokesch, Director of Communications for the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops told LifeSiteNews.com that “it has been our policy whenever we have made statements concerning an election campaign to release them before the election starts.” Janet Epp Buckingham, legal counsel for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, wrote an article (http://www.christianity.ca/news/weblog/2004/08.18.html ) on the subject recently saying that she interprets the CRA charity policy to forbid for example pastors telling congregants to vote only for pro-life candidates.  “If a pastor made the statement from the pulpit on a Sunday morning that Christians have a responsibility to vote only for pro-life candidates but there is only one pro-life candidate in that riding, well, it is pretty clear in my mind that that looks like a partisan political statement,” she wrote. In fact in an interview Buckingham told LifeSiteNews.com she advised a pastor not to urge congregants to vote pro-life only.  “I had one pastor call me and say I want to preach this sermon saying that Christians have a responsibility to vote only for pro-life candidates but there is only one pro-life candidate in my riding.  And I did advise him not to preach the sermon, because I felt that it was crossing what Canada Revenue Agency had made a fairly clear guideline about partisan political activity.” Jim Hughes, National President of Campaign Life Coalition was taken aback by the stand.  He urges churches to ignore the policy and continue to speak the truth - that the right to life, must be the priority in voting since without it, all other rights are meaningless.  “Let’s not be blackmailed into giving up our faith,” said Hughes. jhw http://www.lifesitenews.com/resources/tax-exempt-status-a-powerful-tool-to-muzzle-churches-in-canada/

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