Free Speech

Charities silenced by the taxman

If there’s any branch of the federal government that should top the “hate list” for Canadian conservatives it has to be the Canada Revenue Agency. (...) Yet strangely, the supposedly “conservative” Harper government is giving $8-million in additional funding to the CRA. What’s going on here? (...) What they really want is for the CRA to more thoroughly investigate charitable groups that are trying (horror of horrors) to sway public opinion. (...)

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Pushing carbon tax cost research agency its funding, Tories confirm

Minister of Environmen Peter Kent / The Canadian Press

The federal government has confirmed what the rumour mill suspected: it shut down an arm's length, independent advisory group because it didn't like the advice it was getting on addressing climate change. [...]

Funding for the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE) was cut in the last budget, giving the group just one year to live. [...]

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said Monday the shuttering of the round table had more to do with the content of the research itself. [...]

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Tory rhetoric creates chilly climate for free speech

In the government’s view, some contributions to public debate are simply out of bounds, if they are “against the national interest” – that is, opposed to a proposed pipeline from the oil sands of Alberta to the British Columbia coast. Hence, Natural Resource Minister Joe Oliver called environmental groups “radicals” serving foreign interests; Environment Minister Peter Kent accused these groups of “money laundering” and Conservative Senator Nicole Eaton added “influence peddling.” Both of these last two would be criminal activities, yet no evidence of crimes has been brought to light. […]

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Meeting: The State and Health of Democracy in Canada

Friends,

You may already be a member or supporter of the Voices-Voix Coalition or aware of our work. Perhaps you are not aware of Voices-Voix but you are deeply concerned about the state and health of human rights advocacy, democracy and dissent in Canada. [...]

Physicians for Global Survival (PGS), a highly regarded Canadian NGO that has been campaigning to abolish nuclear weapons for 32 years, is losing its charitable tax status. (...) The Harper government attacked Canada’s highly-regarded charitable sector in its recent budget, warning that charities that surpass the rule of devoting more than 10 per cent of their total resources to political work will lose their charitable status. (...)

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"Black Out Speak Out" campaign launched by environmental groups

The Sierra Club Canada website will be blacked out on June 4, 2012 to protest the latest changes to environmental laws included in the federal budget. The black out is part of a national campaign called “Black Out Speak Out” (or using the Twitter Hashtag: #BlackOutSpeakOut) and involves Sierra Club Canada, CPAWS, David Suzuki Foundation, Ecojustice, Equiterre, Environmental Defense, Greenpeace, Nature Canada, Pembina, West Coast Environmental Law, and WWF Canada. (...)

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Allegations of charities laundering money ‘desperate’: Tides CEO

Tides Canada President and CEO Ross McMillan lashed out at federal Environment Minister Peter Kent‘s allegations of money laundering by Canadian charities Wednesday, calling the minister’s comments “desperate and preposterous.” (...) “I see no evidence whatsoever that charities are acting inappropriately or illegally, and these are really grave allegations coming from a minister of the Crown,” McMillan told Metro. “If he has any reason to back them up, he should come forward with something more than innuendo, which is what he’s putting out, and if not he should apologize to Canadians for contributing to a smear campaign, which is what this is.” (...)