Alberta Public Inquiry into Anti-Alberta Energy Campaigns

Last week, Sonya Savage, Minister of Energy, presented the results of Commissioner Steve Allan’s report on the Alberta Public Inquiry into Anti-Alberta Energy Campaigns.  

CCVO has previously noted our concerns with this public inquiry, including the potential impacts on nonprofit organizations. CCVO and the Ontario Nonprofit Network (ONN) have articulated how essential the nonprofit sector is in public policy discourse. As such we are pleased to note this fundamental finding from Commissioner Steve Allan:  

"To be very clear, I have not found any suggestions of wrongdoing on the part of any individual or organization. No individual or organization, in my view, has done anything illegal. Indeed, they have exercised their rights of free speech." 

The report goes on to make recommendations, some of which have relevance to the nonprofit sector. If implemented as they are currently presented, they run the risk of significantly increasing the amount of red tape for nonprofits and could have consequences for nonprofits’ ability to manage the administrative burden.

CCVO is taking a detailed look at the report in consultation with other leading nonprofit policy organizations.