Latest / Kvetch & Release / 610 CKTB| The Selective Tax War on Jewish Charities: How the CRA Wiped Out 8 Charities in 18 Months

Transcript

610 CKTB| The Selective Tax War on Jewish Charities: How the CRA Wiped Out 8 Charities in 18 Months · Kvetch & Release

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hey, good morning John. How are you, buddy?
• 0:01
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Jean. I wouldn't say that I broke this one.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: I saw this in the National Post. I decided to
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: dig a little bit deeper into it though.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, well that's good. You know, antisemitism is at
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: an all time high in Canada. That's the political way
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: of saying. Jew hate is hitting an all time high
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: in Canada. And you've got a story here about the
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: CO eight. Now, when I think of the Canadian Revenue Agency,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: I think it think of it as boring, slow moving,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: nobody answers their phone. But you're saying it's undergone a
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: radical shift since the terrible events of October seventh. So
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: what's exactly happening with what they call the Charities Directorate?
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, these are bean counters with brass knuckles right now, Gene.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: What we have seen is eight major Jewish organizations wiped
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: out in the last eighteen months. This is not an audit,
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: It is a regulatory red wedding. The JNF, the Nieman, Mazl, Mazorti,
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: heruz CZCAS and CCP. And it all started with death
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: belowth That was patient zero for this new legal contagion.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: Since October the seventh. There has been some kind of
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: a change, it seems, within the CRA, and it's not
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: just a policy change, its administrative attrition. We're seeing a
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: high velocity purge of Jewish and organizations and charities at
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: a speed that would make a Silicone Valley startup blush
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: quite frankly, and there's a few accusations. One they're saying
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: that some of these organizations are engaging in foreign military support.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: That's a bunk argument. We're talking about playgrounds and fitness
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: areas that are supporting people who are in the military
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: and their families. We're not talking about military support. And
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: the fact of the matter is the CIRA has signed
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: off on this for the past six decades. To suddenly
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: start calling playgrounds military infrastructure in twenty twenty four that
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: something changed. It was October seventh. Wow. They also say
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: that there is a lack of direction and control of
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: these funds. This is a technical gotcha. Every international charity
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: uses local partners on the ground to distribute aid, but
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: the CRA is only pulling out the microscope for Jewish
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: organizations supportive of Jews living in their indigenous lands. If
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: we applied this standard across the board. The entire Canadian
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: charity sector would be dead by noon. Gene.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Well, now are these isolated cases or is this Yeah,
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: I'm trying to play Devil's advocate here. So are they
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: isolated cases or is this a bigger statistical trend?
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: Oh, this is a statistical hit job, Gene. In twenty
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: twenty five, a charity and support of Jews living in
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: their indigenous lands was twenty five times more likely to
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: be revoked than any other. And the people in the
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: Peninsula need to understand the math here, Gene. If the
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: CRA applied this administrative at tradition to your listeners locally
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: right there in Niagara, that is the equivalent of like
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: five hundred charities being shut down WI eighteen months. Just
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: to put it in a per capita basis. They wouldn't
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: dream of doing that to Saint Catherine's. So why are
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: they doing it to the Jews? These are technical rules
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: being used as a political firing squad. They decided to
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: hit the turbo button on this. And if they decided
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: to treat the Hope Center, Community Care or Project Share
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: the way that they have these eight organizations, your in
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: total social service sector would collapse. We don't execute our
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: local pillars over a missing receipt. But that's what's happening
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: right now in Ottawa.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: You know, some might suggest that the Canada Revenue Agency
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: is just enforcing the rules. So why do you believe
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: this is being triggered by you know, outside pressure, the
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: digital mob, et cetera, on and on.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: Because they admitted it. They said it. They said that
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: they've received eleven thousand activist letters from groups that are
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: engaged in anti Israel bias. They've outsourced their national tax
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: policy to a digital mob. They influenced these audits. They're
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: taking their orders from the social media comments section instead
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: of the Tax Act, the gene And since when did
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: the taxman start taking his marching orders from the trolls?
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: In Canada? Your charitable status shouldn't depend, quite frankly on
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: how many dislikes you get from a professional outrage machine
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: on the web. We'd we have replaced the rule of
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: law with trial by timeline and if the mob trends,
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: it seems the CRA is going to end it.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: Now are we talking about the actual auditors themselves at
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: the CRA? I mean, is any evidence that these are
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: the people doing the work and perhaps are not neutral,
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: so they have an anti Jewish bias.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: Just go on to the Public Service of Canada's that's
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: the union, the Professional Institute of Public Service of Canada's
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: Facebook page. The second that the JNF was wiped out
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: by the CRA, the union was on social media celebrating
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: it with political slogans like saying that organizations can't get
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: engaged in quote genocide. The Federal Court of Appeals has
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: already called this bias. Credible objectivity seems to be dead.
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: They've traded their spreadsheets for picket sides. When the ref
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: is wearing the other team's jersey, the game is rigged.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: Yikes. When you were telling me about this yesterday, you
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: kept talking about something called a jeopardy order. A jeopardy order. Now,
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: what's the jeopardy order? Because you made it sound when
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: we were talking about this yesterday that it was some
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: sort of a nuclear option.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: Oh, it absolutely is the nuclear option. In the Nieman
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: In Foundations case, they used the jeopardy order to freeze
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: two and a half million dollars before the charity even
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: finished its legal appeal. This is guilty until proven dead.
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: They're bankrupting these organizations so that they're not even able
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: to hire lawyers to be able to fight back. If
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: they can do it today, they can do it to
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: any group tomorrow. They've replaced due process with financial handcuffs.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: You don't get a day in court if you've had
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: your money seized before the trial even starts.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Now I'm not Jewish, I'm Anglican and I barely
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: go to church. Michael Koran would be so upset with me. Well,
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: his church is right around the corner from where I live.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: He keeps saying, didn't see on Sunday, didn't see on Sunday.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: But you know what, Sue an Levy has already declared me,
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: I'm an honorary Jew. And why should somebody who's not
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: Jewish or part of the Zionist community should Why should
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: they care about this? I mean, what's the broader rule
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: of law here that is being risk?
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: Well, the real risk here is that if they're going
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: to be able to do this to the Jews today,
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: they'll be able to do this to your charity tomorrow.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: This isn't how we should be applying standards. I don't
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: want the tax agency to be involved in taking and
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: fielding their marching orders from a digital mob. I want
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: them to be doing audits based on what their demands comply.
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: I also don't like the idea of their union or
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: or even them to a certain extent engaged. Well, it
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: actually excuse me them in a direct extent engaging in
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: foreign policy. They're not the Ministry of our Affairs. We
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: have a Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a reason. The
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: tax auditor should be looking at numbers, dollars and cents
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: full stop. This is beyond their mandate. What we need
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: here is to get a Senate Finance Committee investigation into
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: step in and get all this Matland fairness to be ended.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: Well, thankfully the toothpaste is out of the tube. As
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: they say, so, I mean, you advocate for Jews groups
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: right across Canada. So are these charities sitting back? Is
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: there going to be any repercussions? Final question?
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, you know there's appeals right now. They're all ongoing.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: And it's not like this has completely stopped the entire
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: Canadian Jewish charitable sector. Just that threw a wrench in
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: to it. And it's just unfortunate because again it goes
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: to what we've discussed before. Gene many times. Following October
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: the seventh, the worst attack on Jews, the worst mass
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust, we have seen the
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: largest increases of anti Semitism, and I would argue that
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: this is just institutionalized governmental anti semitism, and it needs
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: to be netted out. Is this can't be what our
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: government stands for. This can't be what our country stands for.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: But increasingly it seems as if we're being more and
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: more permissive to it, whether it's on our streets or
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: being administered by our tax auditors. So we need to
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: get to a bottom of this, because again, if it
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: starts with the Jews, it'll come for you.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks for making us aware of this. I always
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: appreciate your stories when you come on. Have a great day,
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: and you'll be back with us on Tuesday.
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, thanks Jane.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: All right, there he goes storyteller John Letke. He finds
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: the greatest stories. Some are like this, some are like
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: right out in the left field, but after you listen
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: to John, they always seem to make sense. So we
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: love having that voice on the show.