A strong democracy requires freedom of expression.
Back in 2012, the Harper government decided to spend millions auditing environmental groups, and later anti-poverty and human-rights charities, to see if they were doing too much "political work."
It's time for the Liberals to step in and do the right: end the political-activity audits of 24 charities that just happened to disagree with policies of the Harper government.
Add your name to our petition.
Dear Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Minister of National Revenue Diane Lebouthillier,
It's time to stop harassing environmental groups and other charities and to let them do their work.
In the last election, you promised to end the political activities audits of Canadian charities that were critical of the Harper government. The Harper government poured millions of dollars to launch dozens of political-activity audits of environmental groups and anti-poverty and human-rights organizations.
That's why the Liberal party platform condemned the program as "tax audit harassment" and a "witch hunt" against critics of the Harper government. Interestingly, right-wing charities, like the Fraser Institute, reported zero political activity and didn't catch the attention of CRA.
Earlier this year, Minister Lebouthillier announced CRA would begin "winding down" these audits, but later reversed course and announced 24 political activity audits launched during Harper's time in power would continue as planned.
It's time to make good on the commitment to allow charities to do their work "free from political harassment." I am calling on you to end the political-activity audits of Canadian charities.
