CANADIAN TAX AUTHORITY WARNED CHURCHES TO BE SILENT ON POLITICS: From the Catholic World News

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".

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