A Spring Thaw? Political Advocacy in Post-Audit Canada

Abstract

Despite having expertise on the day to day consequences of how individuals and groups are impacted by the policies and decisions of governments, charities have experienced a great deal of tension in their attempts to influence public policy. The CPS-022 Policy Statement that restricts the political activity of charities to 10 percent of their overall budget has been identified as confusing, antiquated, and not in line with the advocacy role that some charities identify as necessary for social change. These tensions were further exacerbated by the political activity audit program which was enacted by the Harper government from 2012-2015. This program caused an advocacy chill that was felt to varying levels by different charities in the sector. The purpose of this research is to explore how the CPS-022 interacts with everyday practice as it pertains to advocacy, gauge whether or not there has been a warming to the advocacy chill, and to collect senior employee’s impressions regarding the proposed recommendations for changes to the CPS-022 collected by a consultation panel. Semi structured qualitative interviews were completed with 6 participants from macro-based social organizations in Ontario. Participants shared their opinions and experiences of audit, governmental control of the social agenda, working within the policy statement, and the panel’s recommendations for change. Using a structural social work lens to analyze the data, it was found that a lack of clarity and a broad scope of interpretation within the CPS-022 made advocacy more daunting, participants were not concerned about exceeding the 10 percent limit, and there has been a variable warming to the advocacy chill. Participants were generally happy with the recommendations laid out by the panel, despite a lack of focus on clarifying partisanship, and the potential for broadness in the legislation. Overall, it became obvious that the charitable sector is in a period of transition and growth with regard to their role in public policy development.