but, i'd rather see them abolish the tax exemption than write laws that restrict political activity. how can a charity not be political? and, how can a church not be political?

of course, if you take a look at who was affected by the conservative law, what you see is a lot of things they were opposed to. they didn't just go after environmental groups (who are universally disappointed with this government - don't think this is helping friendly parties. this government is getting sued from every direction for carrying on the policies of the previous one.), they also went after overseas abortion providers and were particularly harsh on pro-palestinian groups.

so, i don't oppose lifting political restrictions on charities. it's hardly an issue i'm passionate about, but whatever. but, i am in very strong opposition to the idea that donations to charities should be tax exempt.

here's the thing: when you make donations to charities tax-exempt, what you're doing is evading social responsibility for your policies, and making it contingent on a set of ideological principles. so, you end up perverting anti-poverty work into religious proselytizing. and, you allow people to divert what should be redistributed tax money into institutions that are potentially oppressing people.

i've made life choices for myself that have left me in perpetual poverty; there's a trade-off on this, in that i never need to be anywhere in the morning. i'd rather be poor. and i don't currently need to use food banks. but, i shouldn't have to deal with a religious person in order to eat - in whatever abstraction that is. these kinds of services should be run by secular groups and open to everybody without any basis of coercion.

this is an extreme example, but i've heard stories (primary sources.) about religious compounds in haiti literally exchanging food for conversion. don't think this kind of coercion is a scare story. it's a reality in the developing world. and, it's only possible because the secular society isn't doing what it needs to be doing in order to prevent it.

of course, charities can also be used as money laundering fronts...

....but i'm really more interested in ensuring that these resources end up collectivized, and directed by popular consensus, rather than left up to the individual whims of wealthy donors, who may or may not be acting in the public good.

http://www.torontosun.com/2017/05/08/charities-too-political-under-trudeau