PEN Canada envisions a world where
writers are free to write,
readers are free to read,
and freedom of expression prevails
PEN Canada welcomed news that the Canada Revene Agency (CRA) is “winding down” their audits of registered charities’ political activities.
In this third instalment of Free Expression Matters we look at the Canada Revenue Agency’s practice of auditing charities for “political activity”.
If freedom of expression in Canada were a medical patient, it would be dangerously close to needing life support.
In this excerpt, Hank Bulmash looks at recent examples of charities that have undergone audits and how the government has used the Canada Revenue Agency to wage a “war against charities.”
On November 19, 2012 PEN Canada voiced concerns that the “vague language of the Income Tax Act gives government officials discretionary powers that are overbroad and easily abused” with respect to determining the political activities in which charitable organizations can engage. PEN urged the federal government to reconsider the issue of “so-called ‘partisan’ activity by […]
The last parliamentary budget included $8 million for the express purpose of CRA purging its rolls of charitable organizations it deemed unworthy of the status.
PEN Canada today voiced concerns that current law and policy on partisan activities by charitable organizations muzzles political dissent and stifles public debate within Canada.
Finding the Words: Writers on Inspiration, Desire, War, Celebrity, Exile, and Breaking the Rules