http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/04/25 ... oundation/
Kathryn Blaze Carlson Apr 25, 2012 – 6:01 AM ET | Last Updated: Apr 25, 2012 7:38 AM ET
The David Suzuki Foundation on Tuesday became the target of a complaint to the Canada Revenue Agency, just days after its namesake co-founder stepped down amid heightened tensions between environmental charities and the Conservative government.
EthicalOil.org, a non-profit organization that promotes oil from Canada and other democracies, sent a letter to the agency asking it to investigate whether the David Suzuki Foundation is breaking rules that pertain to political activity. Registered charities are allowed to devote only a small fraction of their resources to political activity, although they can never be partisan.
“If you find the Suzuki Foundation is in contravention of the CRA rules, then we request that you consider whether the Suzuki Foundation should have its charitable status revoked or otherwise be sanctioned,” EthicalOil.org said in its 44-page letter, which was drafted by Calgary-based JSS Barristers and obtained by the National Post.
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Jamie Ellerton, EthicalOil.org’s executive director, said the letter was also faxed to the David Suzuki Foundation, but the foundation did not confirm receipt or provide comment before deadline Tuesday.
The move comes on the heels of the Conservative government’s warning it will keep a much closer eye on the blurry line between charity and politics, arming the tax department with $8-million to enforce the rules. That announcement, which was viewed largely as part of a growing battle between resource development and environmental organizations, has already prompted some groups to act.
‘What we’re looking to accomplish is to ensure taxpayers aren’t subsidizing the political activity of the David Suzuki Foundation’
ForestEthics Canada last week announced it would split into two so one segment can devote all its time to opposing projects such as the Northern Gateway oil pipeline. The group was never a registered charity itself, but its donors received tax receipts through its former umbrella group, Tides Canada.
A week before, David Suzuki stepped down from the foundation he helped create so he can “speak freely without fear” his words will be deemed too political, according to an open letter posted to the group’s website last week.
Mr. Ellerton said that organizations should forgo charitable status — and all the economic benefits it brings — if they want the freedom to be political.
“What we’re looking to accomplish [in issuing a complaint to the revenue agency] is to ensure taxpayers aren’t subsidizing the political activity of the David Suzuki Foundation,” he said.
Charity lawyer Mark Blumberg said EthicalOil.org’s complaint does not automatically mean the revenue agency will launch an investigation. And Mr. Ellerton said he is unsure whether the agency is probing another charity, Environmental Defence, after EthicalOil.org mounted a formal complaint against that group in March.
The complaint relates to the David Suzuki Foundation’s activities over the past year and the bulk of its complaint outlines allowable political activity such as letter-writing campaigns to federal politicians or blog posts urging the Conservative government to change its environmental policies.
Mr. Ellerton said those activities point to the group’s “politicization” and that the CRA should “determine whether or not they are crossing the 10% political threshold and violating charities law.” The letter also says the foundation received funding from the British government and that the purpose of the funding may have been to “forward the policies of the United Kingdom Government on climate change in Canada.”
Other portions of the letter accuse the foundation of engaging in prohibited partisan activity and point to the following as two examples:
- - A blog post titled “Ontario Liberal platform maintains green energy focus,” which was published two days after the provincial election was called last fall; and
- A July 2011 Toronto Star article that reported Mr. Suzuki had endorsed Premier Dalton McGuinty and was “urging Ontarians to re-elect” the Liberal leader.
But Mr. Blumberg said even those activities are not necessarily prohibited and must be carefully examined, one by one, because charity law is far from black-and-white.
National Post
