Catholic World News News Feature

Canadian tax authority warns churches to be silent August 11, 2004

The legal counsel for both the Catholic Church in Canada and the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada were asked to be present at a meeting with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) in early March. Janet Buckingham, legal counsel for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC), and Jennifer Leddy, legal counsel for the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, were warned by revenue officials that should they become involved in "partisan" political activity during the then-upcoming 2004 federal election they would risk losing their tax-exempt status.

According to the federal agency, to avoid being "partisan" means not addressing issues on which the competing political parties have opposing views. Dawna Lynn Labonte, a media relations officer for the federal Minister of National Revenue, said that not only would churches be penalized for telling congregants to vote for a certain party or candidate, they would also be penalized for coming out strongly on an issue on which the parties were opposed, such as abortion or same-sex "marriage".

In fact, it was specifically on same-sex unions that the Canada Revenue Agency addressed Leddy and Buckingham.

Speaking of issues such as same-sex marriage, where the parties have significant differences, Labonte said, "The best thing for a charity to do, especially during an election, is to stay away from those issues." She added, "There are certain issues, especially during election times, that are very political." All moral issues including even poverty seem to be covered by the election time gag-order on religions. Giving an example, Labonte said, "Taking out a full-page ad before Christmas on homelessness might not be considered political, but doing the same thing the week of an election might be considered political."

The EFC's Buckingham said that at the meeting the CRA asked the CCCB and EFC to spread the word on the restrictions. Buckingham said that the guidelines have been in place at least since last September when CRA issued an update.

Deacon William Kokesch, Director of the Communications Service for the CCCB, said he had not heard about the meeting. Jennifer Leddy was out of the office and thus not available for comment.