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Which brings us to Canada Without Poverty, a charity at the centre of an important case that has just been fought to a conclusion in Ontario’s Superior Court. Canada Without Poverty is, by design, almost all talk. This group does not accept the idea that tax breaks for charity ought to be limited to the transitory relief of particular instances of poverty by the handing out of soup or socks or $20 bills. That, friends, is futile, obsolete Victorianism. No, CWP seeks a total, permanent cure for poverty by means of advocating for legislative change.

Should the tax advantages available to classical-model charities be available to such cutting-edge up-tempo ones that attack social ills indirectly?

A Canada Revenue Agency audit of the group, performed between 2009 and 2012, found that it engaged almost exclusively in nonpartisan political activity. Its work, over that period, included “organizing and hosting policy summits with social policy experts, offering an online course on international human rights, issuing a survey to members of ethno-cultural communities which contained general advice on how to advocate for the elimination of poverty, and formulating a national strategy to alleviate poverty.” There is no mention of soup. (Notice that some of CWP’s activity is not even advocacy, but meta-advocacy: advocating to other activists on how to advocate.)

Photo by Ottawa Citizen

Should the tax advantages available to classical-model charities be available to such cutting-edge up-tempo ones that attack social ills indirectly? It can probably be argued either way: as long as a group like Canada Without Poverty can persuade voluntary donors or their agents that it is doing good, we might not want the CRA to fuss with the details. The important issue may be that if we want a new standard for defining charity, it has to be tenable and consistent. There is a long queue of potential political “activists” standing behind Canada Without Poverty. (Wait, are those the Koch brothers? I bet they have some ideas for curing poverty!)