Taxpayer-funded program bankrolled Liberal causes to amend Charter rights
The Macdonald-Laurier Institute says the Court Challenges Program “now serves as a way of turning our tax dollars into untraceable dark money.”
An overwhelmingly 96% of legal causes funded by the Court Challenges Program (CCP) supported progressive orthodoxies, a think tank confirmed. Most notably, it funded intervenors who backed the carbon tax in 2021.
“We anticipated the ideological direction of the funding would often be unclear,” reads a report by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. “We were wrong,” it furthered. The program was “heavily biased,” with analysts unable to find a single cause on conservative themes.
Taxpayer dollars from the Court Challenges Program were used to fund intervenors who supported the carbon tax, ultimately influencing a Supreme Court decision that sided with the government on the controversial tax.
— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) January 25, 2025
READ MORE: https://t.co/466yCiAmb0 pic.twitter.com/U6TV33nfGq
The program aims to “help Canadians access the justice system in order to assert their constitutional rights,” according to its Annual Report.
The CCP offers up to $20,000 for test case development, a $200,000 litigation maximum, and up to $50,000 for legal interventions “to make arguments that are broader or have a different focus than those presented by the parties to the case, with a view to clarifying rights.”
Managers invoked solicitor-client privilege when asked to name all litigants, reported Blacklock’s.
First-ever analysis of Court Challenges Program finds liberal causes were funded 96 times out of 100: "The Program has a clear ideological bias," says @MLInstitute study. https://t.co/TuMaD61sI1 #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/c1VTgIC81j
— Blacklock's Reporter (@mindingottawa) February 14, 2025
Total funding amounts to $24.9 million as of writing, with an unspecified amount going to intervenors who backed the carbon tax in 2021.
A subsequent Supreme Court decision, favouring the levy, marked the only time recipients sided with officeholders in a tax case.
The CCP is widely considered a “cornerstone of [the government’s] commitment to a diverse, fair and inclusive Canada.”
“In 2020 the chair of the Program’s human rights panel called the Program ‘a living example of social justice in action.’ We could not have said it better ourselves,” the Institute remarked, suggesting it has “outlived its usefulness.”
”It is time to shut it down,” said the report The Court Challenges Program: How Your Tax Dollars Fuel Social Justice Activism Through The Courts. Their analysis confirms it has a “clear ideological bias.”
“Drawing from the Program’s annual reports,” said Social Justice Activism, “we find 96 percent of the Program’s examples of funded human rights litigation aimed for a ‘progressive’ policy outcome.”
The federal govt spends millions to indirectly push progressive policies through the courts.@Ryan_p_alford & Dave Snow look into how #Canada's Court Challenges Program funds litigation that expands government power—far from public scrutiny:https://t.co/nRDuzmP8NW
— Macdonald-Laurier Institute (@MLInstitute) February 13, 2025
Among the litigation that received funding includes appeals for health benefits for illegal immigrants and protection of “gender expression” in Canada’s Charter, reported Blacklock’s.
“Program funded litigation is uniformly targeted towards … an activist interpretation of the Charter,” said the Institute, as well as broadening federal authority and blurring the divide between the judicial system and partisan politics.
As Canadian Constitution Foundation Litigation Director Christine Van Geyn notes, “The government should not fund lawsuits against its own laws with taxpayer money.”
"If the federal government thinks its policies violate Charter rights, it should change those policies directly rather than funding litigation that might result in a judicial decision striking those policies down," the Institute writes.
The think tank says the program “now serves as a way of turning our tax dollars into untraceable dark money.” It urged for greater transparency to no avail.
Alex Dhaliwal
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Alex Dhaliwal is a Political Science graduate from the University of Calgary. He has actively written on relevant Canadian issues with several prominent interviews under his belt.
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COMMENTS
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Robert Pariseau commented 2025-02-20 19:39:56 -0500Of course sockboy would reinstate a program like this. It was a guarantee of protection, and even now there’s no guarantee of being able to fight back without going bankrupt.
Precisely what Skippy wants. -
Frank Narejko commented 2025-02-19 13:12:10 -0500A Corrupt Justice System works with the politicians and no one to stop them. -
Bernhard Jatzezck commented 2025-02-18 22:16:05 -0500That won’t happen, Bruce. The unemployed bureaucrats will apply for dole and, thereby, overwhelm the system. Of course, Parliament will have to vote it more money to keep it functioning.
We can’t win, can we? -
Bruce Atchison commented 2025-02-18 21:26:30 -0500Leave it to the Liberals to corrupt everything. Pierre Poilievre needs to have a Canadian DOGE to purge the bureaucracy of grifters and leftist ideologues. We need business-minded auditors to eradicate the waste and wastrels squandering OUR tax dollars. Remember this in April when you send in your returns.
