During the 2021 election, the Liberals introduced a policy that the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) would be requested to remove the charitable status of pregnancy centres if they provided “misinformation”.

According to documents obtained under the Access to Information Act, dated September 10, 2021, a “compliance consideration” was made to the CRA requesting a review of the charitable status of these pro-life agencies. The CRA is governed by both legislation (Income Tax Act) and the common law (which defines “charity”). The CRA correctly pointed out that it audits charities for fraud, i.e., determines whether they are acting outside their charitable status mandates. The CRA further advised the Liberal government that it did not have the authority to look into the philosophy behind the organizations it was auditing.