Finance committee  Not that I'm aware of....

Finance committee  Again, not making any specific reference to any specific charity, any kind of partisan activity is unacceptable at any level.

Finance committee  If the political activity is partisan and the training is to allow for partisan political activity, then I think there would be a connecting factor there.

Finance committee  What we're hoping to do in the measure is to remove the absolute requirement for us to send it by registered mail. It would leave us with some discretion as to whether or not it's online. Maybe in some circumstances it would be in person; maybe in some circumstances it would be registered mail.

Finance committee  I think in this case it's because we're introducing the additional authority to suspend that was referenced a little earlier. We didn't have the authority to suspend before, so the new authority, which is to suspend for a year or more, is being put in place within the existing structure the minister has, and then as soon as the bill passes, assuming it passes, we have delegation instruments that the minister immediately signs that delegates that back to us.

Finance committee  Technically, but given that we never provide any information or access that information to the minister's office, there wouldn't be anything for her to act on, which again is how we try to protect the integrity of the tax system.

Finance committee  The normal process is that it is the Department of Finance that brings forward tax policy and other measures. A number of those emanate from the Department of Finance, and from time to time there are some that are suggested by us. This would have been part of that general discussion.

Finance committee  I don't believe.... Again, that's part of the general discussion on advice and guidance to ministers. I think I'll leave it at that.

Finance committee  I apologize if I was unclear. The authority is delegated to officials within the agency. For example, revocations—even now, I don't see a number of them—are taken at the director general level. As I mentioned, we keep a very clear line between the minister's office on the political side and the decisions we take that are delegated to us through the tax system.

Finance committee  Our minister has been pretty clear in the House and has communicated that message. I trust she will continue to do so.

Finance committee  The minister has been clear. We've been clear in our testimony both here and at the Senate. The director general of charities gave a speech to the Canadian Bar Association a week ago, and she was also clear. We're going to be posting that speech in both languages on our website, in the next day or two, so we are doing everything that is reasonable and responsible, given that the bill is still under consideration, to clarify what our role has been and will continue to be in how we approach files like this, and how we intend to operate in the future.

Finance committee  The measures provide for intermediate sanctions and for the suspension of licences to charities. We think this would be helpful. Right now there are fewer public tools available to us, and we think it will be helpful in making our interaction with charities more current. It will allow us to deal more quickly with charities where the public is at risk.

Finance committee  We act in a manner that's consistent with the Income Tax Act and the policy direction the Government of Canada provides to us. And those are public, yes.

Finance committee  I was going to say that there are measures, for example, that provide for penalty provisions, and others that are meant to protect the integrity of the tax system; they're measures that help prevent people from taking advantage of the tax system and that are useful for us but that don't have an active impact on the fiscal framework.

Finance committee  That's the way we've done business since forever, regardless of the government, and that's the way we'll continue to do business. There is no political direction, and that's absolutely essential to the integrity of the system.