Not-for-Profit: Registered Charity Policy Advocacy: Rules beyond the Income Tax Act.

• Author: Broder, Peter
• Position: Columns

Although welcome and overdue, the new federal tax legislation and guidance on policy advocacy by registered charities doesn't mean that compliance worries faced by sector organizations in this area are a thing of the past. For those unfamiliar with the changes, more information on them can be found online. Essentially, these changes free up groups to do more non-partisan policy advocacy in furtherance of their charitable purposes.

What hasn't changed are the obligations of organizations under other statutes. Charities should be aware of any regulatory requirements they face, whether under federal or provincial law, before embarking on their advocacy work.

This was highlighted last month when, as was widely reported in the mainstream media, Elections Canada warned charities that they remained subject to third party registration requirements under election legislation if they meet spending thresholds for "regulated activities". Activities in this category include several types of conduct, but for charities the most important is "election advertising".

Under charity tax rules, no coordination with a party or candidate is allowed.

Election advertising is "transmission to the public by any means during the election period of an advertising message that promotes or opposes a registered party or candidate, including by taking a position on an issue with which the party or person is associated." The last part of this definition means that charities can be required to register as third parties if they pay to promote a policy stance that happens to overlap with a position of a party or candidate. The $500 financial threshold is quite low, so easily triggered if any costs are incurred in the promotion.

The charity's position overlapping with the party or candidate's is enough to prompt the requirement. An organization having an existing stance on an issue, which is later taken up or opposed by a political actor, does not eliminate the need to register. Nor does the spending having been undertaken independently of the party or candidate relieve the charity of its registration obligation.

Provincial election legislation may take a similar approach.

Under charity tax rules, no coordination with a party or candidate is allowed. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) does, however, state in its guidance that autonomously promoting charity positions that at some point become part of a party or candidate's platform do not indicate partisanship for its purposes...