Vancouver-based left wing web zine is swept up in national debate on charity abuse
Concerns raised by the Prime Minister, as well as Ministers of his Cabinet and conservative political commentators are shaking up groups and organizations across Canada. Those especially hit hard are organizations with a direct relationship with the Tides Canada Foundation. On Monday, Sun TV Network commentator Ezra Levant took aim at a Vancouver-based web news and commentary source known for its left wing politics and uninterrupted attacks on the BC Liberals, Conservative Party and Non-Partisan Association, The Tyee.
Three years ago, City Caucus wrote about the money behind The Tyee. Here's what we found then:
Most are familiar with the roster of writers, but who are the people behind thetyee.ca? The Tyee Online Magazine was formerly registered as a numbered company (0773044 B.C. Ltd.) and is now listed in company records as a property of Countercurrent Media Ltd. with a mailing address in downtown Vancouver. Its two directors David Levi and Eric Peterson are among other things well-known for their relationship with the New Democratic Party. Company directors are not to be confused with owners, whose names are not disclosed in the company registration.
Although it took a company search to track down (the information was never available on their website), it was probably no great surprise that the big bucks behind David Beers' pro-NDP website was from deep-pocketed New Democrats. David Levi is a well-known NDP moneyman who manages investment funds for unions. Eric Peterson is a former software company CEO who sold his company to a European conglomerate and retired to Quadra Island. Peterson's household donated $10,000 to the federal NDP in 2005. Levi is the former CEO of Vancity credit union, and was once rumoured to be a potential mayoral candidate for Vision Vancouver.
The Tyee's connection to Tides Canada evolved as the magazine established two funds, ostensibly for journalism that qualified under Canada's Charities Act. The rules are indeed strict when it comes to applying charitable dollars in support of journalism. Writers would qualify for funding, for example, if they were students and not veteran journalists.
Tax receipted donations
At one time The Tyee's donations page was pretty simple. There was a page with a link to an online form to donate. You could choose to contribute to one of two funds through an online payment:
Investigative Fellowship
will provide fellowship grants to journalists researching under-reported social, economic, and environmental issues in BC and beyond.Solutions Fellowship
will provide grants to writers telling inspiring stories of unsung innovators and leaders successfully tackling tough issues.
Here's the entire text from their old donate page:
With the generous help of readers, The Tyee continues to manage two charitable funds to support independent journalists. Please help us grow the funds by making a tax deductible donation through the links below. Learn more about the funds here.
One-time or monthly donations by cheque or credit card — use this form (PDF).
Credit card donations by phone — contact Rachel Rocco at Tides Canada Foundation, 604-647-6611 ext 616.
Other forms of donation are possible, such as planned gifts, donation of publicly traded shares, and more. To discuss any of these options, contact Rachel Rocco at Tides Canada Foundation: 604-647-6611 ext 616.
Now the link to TheTyee's donate page, once prominently displayed at the top of each page (as the graphic above reveals) is hidden from view. The link to the online "gift tool" donation form is now gone, and the page now has a large disclaimer at the top:
*** PLEASE NOTE: The Tyee is in the process of launching a brand new, non-charitable monthly giving program that allows readers to directly support our core reporting capacity. In the next few months, we will be slowly phasing out charitable donations to the fellowship fund.
If you have given to The Tyee's fellowships before, or are a current monthly donor, expect to be contacted in February 2012 with more information. If you are a first-time donor, or would like more information about the switch, please get in touch with our community manager, Shannon Smart, at 604-689-7489 or ssmart@thetyee.ca. ***
As Levant points out in his video commentary, it's odd that the site would "phase out" a donations program that is subject to scrutiny by federal authorities rather than just end it outright. Apparently it was just easier to hide the link to the donate page, rather than take it down altogether.
In his own defense a blog post quoting Beers refutes Levant's money laundering accusations:
"I'd rather not respond to demagoguery, but false statements need to be corrected so here goes," said Tyee editor David Beers.
The page's byline credits "Tyee Staff" for the interview with Beers.
- post by Mike
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Thought of The Night of The Long Knives
“Deja Vu…”
On April 17, 1982, Queen Elizabeth II came to Ottawa to proclaim the new Constitution Act for Canada.
Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau said: “Why don’t we get patriation first, nobody can object to that – then give ourselves two years to solve our problems over the amending formula and the charter, and failing that, consult the people in a referendum?”
Why don’t Canada throw the Constitution at all these American expats, that are acting here from behind Millions of Dollars of “charitable donations”… mostly American?
Monies at this magnitude and “coincidences” simply, don’t happen. No. Not at this speed and as broad.
Whoever believes that there was never a premeditated plan, I’ll say, do what Vivian did… follow the money!
Following is an older comment, from last year.
It works like a charm…again!
………………………………………………………………..
Thought of The Night
“I would call what an article like this, does to the Hollyhock crowd …‘The Weekend Cabin in the Woods Effect’.”
Picture this…Some weekends you decide to go to your cabin, some you don’t; during all this time the cabin sits empty, or…that’s what you think.
What happens in reality is simple; the Mother Nature takes over. The rats get in first, through the holes that were already there; than the racoons follow suit, there’s the neurotic squirrel, a few snakes, one or two bears might look curiously through the dusty windows once in a while, a family of bats…the spiders start their tedious web building in every corner of the main room; any piece of food you left unattended or forgot about, it is now ‘cockroached’ all over. As I said…Mother Nature, right?
So it goes ‘dolce far niente’ like that for some time until… the ‘weekend’. The one that you want to go back… You get there and the first thing you do is, turn on the light or the light source.
What happens next, it is something out of a comedy of horrors.
A wild creature’s stampede is going to take place. The first to go are the rats, out they run; than the racoons, you feel sorry for the newly born; the squirrel caught in your torch light cannot move a muscle, she is terrified someone would mistake her for a rat, you give her a peanut to calm her down; the snakes ‘ssssssss’ their way out in sssssilence. Then, there are the cockroaches. They are the worst. They pretended to leave at the first sign, but they are still there, hidden in the creases, behind the old icebox, inside the oven, in between the barn tools, they are waiting for you, to go away again. They are very good at doing this, thousands of years of documented evolution of crawling through other peoples belongings, they are the best pretenders out there. You zap them, you DDT spray them, you squish them with your boot…they come back. They are like that. It’s a scary Symbiotic Experience that repeats from time to time…and that’s what Vivien does to them, it scares the sheyat out of them, whether they recognize it or not, it makes them uncomfortable, so uncomfortable they’ll have to temporarily move.
Away.
Hence – ‘The Weekend Cabin in the Woods Effect’.
When (according to Vivian’s article) one entity (Endswell) grants 99% of their total grants (their entire business model) to one entity (Tides) that should not be looked at as a charitable donation. Not at all, that should be looked at as a bank transaction. ‘
Endswell’ is the ATM, the Bankomat, the ‘Printing House’.
‘Tides’ is the Dealer, the Courier, the Customer. The only Customer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxqv5W77cJg
Tell you what. If that’s legally acceptable, when my daughter turns sixteen, I’ll give her a $ 20,000 cheque to buy herself only the greenest vehicle there is on the market, The Hybrid Epsilon Zero Emissions SmartAss two seater,and I will make sure to claim that as a charitable donation. I can feel my Methane Carprint Offset in my foot already…in the gas pedal foot, that is.
………………………………..
Give generously Tyee says. Sure thing.
We live in Vancouver and this keeps us busy.
Dear Mike,
Quite a compelling commentary. The Tyee have always moved me in the wrong direction. I don’t read it much.
The only industry in Canada that didn’t have a downside is the Charity business. As they don’t produce anything, they don’t pay taxes, they don’t have to worry about a bad year. Unless their supply of donations slow down.
To ask for donations from people (majority of whom are not that wealthy) and then divert the money into political activities, make the poor panhandlers asking for money on the sidewalk… look like saints!
Shameful and illegal. Throw the book at them when caught.
Well done.
Richard Unger MD (Ret)
Dear Glissando,
This is what I liked most:
Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau said: “Why don’t we get patriation first, nobody can object to that – then give ourselves two years to solve our problems over the amending formula and the charter, and failing that, consult the people in a referendum?”
Totally agree.
As for your vivid commentary, good grief, that was like reading a passage from a Stephen King book.
Keep up the good work, and thanks for sending me on my walk with that “stampede” of yours in mind …
Richard Unger MD (Ret)
Glissy,
Yes I remember your old post. I liked it then. I like it now even more.
Good for you Mike to keep those Tyee/ Tides brotherhood, honest!
Gee Mike, innuendo is cheap and jumping onboard the Conservative intimidation train is easy.
I don’t imagine you will soon investigate who funds the CTF or the Fraser Institute or even the NPA.
In a country where the major media is dominated by the centre right (the Globe), the further right (the Vancouver Sun); the really right (the National Post); the knuckle dragging right (the Province) and the buffoons at the station that Ezra Levant and his gang spew from, you find an online zine that swings a bit left. Oh golly gee, isn’t terrible.
But don’t worry because the right has never valued freedom of speech (except for the people who own newspapers). Stevie and his sturmtroopers will be sure to stamp out any left wing voice, no matter how small.
waltyss…
First of all…. Right-wing media??!! Which world are you living in? If there is a particular slant to media in this country it’s almost certainly to the left. (Liberal Media is a much more common term than right-wing media.)
As for the your allegations about the CTF. What a perfect example of how to do things correctly.
On the CTF’s “about” page “Donations to the CTF are NOT deductible as a charitable contribution.”
That’s the WHOLE point! If your group is dedicated to political activism, you can’t hide behind a charitable cause. The CTF follows the rules.
@Paul T
BC Liberals is a term as well but anyone but the extreme right would consider them left wing. I suppose if you think Ezra Levant is a socialist you might think the media is liberal. Fortunately the the media still relies reporting on facts a little bit instead of always parroting unproven right wing talking points and rhetoric. That hardly makes them Liberal though.
Perhaps the real problem is that a single left-right dimension does not describe anyone’s political views. It is a rhetorical trick used by people who want to polarize debate. In some cases this is done cynically in order to create wedge issues and divide the electorate. This seems to be part of the CPC strategy, and it seems to be working.
“The wicked man flees though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.” Proverbs 28:1
It’s the same as wiping fingerprints from a gun or cleaning a crime scene with bleach… only criminals need to do it.
Or paying $6 million in hush money to people who plea-bargained their way out of testifying…
only criminals need do it.
Not sure I get the reference, can you clarify?
I’ve donated to the Tyee – I find their independence to be refreshing. I was born and raised in Vancouver, and I’m sick and tired of the lousy news coverage we get from our local papers.
One way or another, publications need to pay the bills. A small online one like the Tyee asks its readers for money, and is beholden to them.
A large one like the Vancouver Sun or the National post asks advertisers for money… follow the logic. Hard to expect hard hitting investigative journalism on the environment when the articles share a page with large car ads, no?
@Simon:
Do you consider the Tyee to be unbiased news coverage?
This model of ‘news’ coverage is most often referrred to as ‘pay for play’. You give us money and we will write what you want.
Only Ezra Levant and City Caucus would take anything Ezra Levant seriously. Mike Klassen, i guess before you reproduced Levant’s calumnies against the Tyee, it was too much to pick up the phone or email David Beers and get his comments.
That you didn’t says a lot about your journalistic and your moral standards.
You said you were unable to see Ezra’s presentation. What does that say about your standards? How is complete and total ignorance of the issue being debated a standard to criticize Mr. Klassen?
Mike Klassen states many falsehoods in this post, three in the headline alone. A quick summary:
The reasons we are no longer asking for contributions to our Tyee Reporting Fellowships Fund has nothing to do with ‘accusations’ of any kind. The reason is much more mundane. We months ago decided to launch a new effort, Tyee Builders, to achieve financial sustainability by inviting our readers to directly fund The Tyee’s journalism. By comparison, The Tyee Reporting Fellowships program is something quite different, modeled on the Atkinson Reporting Fellowships. It was established not to flow reader money into day to day Tyee-produced journalism, but to allow non-Tyee journalists to apply for bursaries to research and write about specific projects that fit the CRA’s mandate of public education. Who decides who gets the bursaries? Not me or anyone at The Tyee. We never even see the applications. The decision is made by an arms-length blue ribbon panel of journalism instructors. They select winning applications, awarding $5000 to each recipient. The Tyee then merely edits and publishes the resulting work.
Why then did we decide about a year ago to eventually phase out The Tyee Reporting Fellowships? We didn’t want to confuse readers by asking them to give to two different programs related to The Tyee at the same moment. But we still have about $20,000 in the Tyee Reporting Fellowships account, which is held at Tides Canada. So we will go through one more round of inviting applications, our panel will make their winning selections, we’ll publish the results, and then we will retire the Tyee Fellowships Program, at least for the next few years.
Thus we didn’t ‘hide’ the donate link. We changed a functionality on our web site to reflect a long planned change in how we related to our supporting readers.
Other things Klassen gets wrong that he could have easily got right if he’d sent me an email and interviewed me:
The way the Tyee pays its bills, including our investors, is plainly posted on the site here: http://thetyee.ca/About/Funding/ . That page is relatively new, however I’ve been happy to tell anyone who asks. See Harvard University’s Nieman Journalism Lab blog post, for example, from 2010: http://www.niemanlab.org/2010/06/cash-from-every-corner-three-kooky-ways-vancouvers-tyee-pays-for-top-shelf-regional-journalism/
Our investors are progressive in their political point of view. Is this a shocking surprise? The Tyee exists to broaden media diversity and as editor I am granted full editorial independence.
I don’t know why Klassen opts to pass on the libel that The Tyee might be involved in some sort of criminal act, which is what money laundering is. I’ve patiently explained to Levant more than once and will say again here that The Tyee and The Tyee Solutions Society are proud of the journalism projects in the interest of public education done via contracts with philanthropic organizations, that some of those projects have won awards, that it’s perfectly legal, that editorial independence is guaranteed in those instances, and that projects done in collaboration with Tides Canada have been clearly labeled as such.
I don’t know why Klassen didn’t behave like a journalist and contact the head of the organization he intended to accuse, which would have saved him the embarrassment of being so evidently eager to leap to wrong conclusions.
David, thanks for your comment. As I pointed out on Twitter, Google cache shows that you changed the links on The Tyee between Thursday and Tuesday. It's fine to claim that it had nothing to do with Levant's attention, but as he points out you added a disclaimer to the donate page after his report. Is that not accurate? Secondly, we here know the hard reality of funding online news and commentary sources. As a site dedicated to holding (centre-right) governments to account, why not hold The Tyee to the same standard and let everyone know who are the directors of your company? No one should have to do a search to find the names as I did. Levant has accused Tides of being involved with money laundering, and implicated The Tyee because of your use of their charitable designation to fund your fellowships. If he's incorrect then you should be sure to set the record straight with him. We’ll then update our report accordingly.
“If he’s incorrect then you should be sure to set the record straight with him. We’ll then update our report accordingly.”
Shouldn’t you check that what you post is accurate?
“I don’t know why Klassen opts to pass on the libel that The Tyee might be involved in some sort of criminal act, which is what money laundering is.”
David Beers,
You have not a clue what you’re talking about. Defined by Canadian laws “money Laundering” is not a Criminal Act unless… and now it’s about time for YOU to do some research and read here:
http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/att_20030403xe02_e_12691.html
“Money laundering is generally described as a three-stage process intended to make the profits or proceeds of crime appear legitimate.”
Yeah
“Our investors are progressive in their political point of view. Is this a shocking surprise? The Tyee exists to broaden media diversity and as editor I am granted full editorial independence.”
Something similar Bernard Maddoff was telling his investors a few years back… they were all laughing out loud and progressive for profits.
I guess one of the questions that is running through my head…. did any of these ‘charitable’ donations head back the the BC NDP via the Tyee?
Will we be seeing a similar story on the Fraser Institute any time soon?
Charity linked to Vancouver mayor under review:
http://www.theprovince.com/business/Charity+linked+Vancouver+mayor+under+review/6604667/story.html
Mike,
When you say:
“It’s fine to claim that it had nothing to do with Levant’s attention, but as he points out you added a disclaimer to the donate page after his report. Is that not accurate? “
No, that is not accurate. We added that disclaimer to the donate page in February. The screen shot you are running with your post reflects a change made in February as well, in fact on February 12 at 1:21 pm. Those dates are provable because they are kept in our content management system.
We have been making various other changes to our pages related to the Builder Program since before we launched it mid-April, and as part of that process we made some a few days ago.These changes had nothing to do with anything said by Levant. It’s just business as usual as we adapt our pages to reflect the Builder Program and allow up to date navigation of the site.
False information. False conclusions. False accusations. Please raise your standards.
David, you pulled the footer link on the blog section of your site to your Donate page between Thursday and Tuesday. How come?
Are you saying that the arrangement you had with Tides Canada has not changed as a result of their audit by Revenue Canada over the past twelve months?
Instead of scolding me over journalistic standards I suggest you apply the same standards of accountability and transparency to The Tyee that you hold those on the centre-right you’ve made it your business to attack for the last several years.
There are Tyee Builder links in the footer section of both the main site and the blog section.
correction:
It’s just business as usual as we adapt our pages to reflect the Builder Program and allow up to date navigation of the site.
should read
It’s just business as usual as we adapt our pages to reflect the Builder Program and allow up to update navigation of the site.
correcting my own correction!
Rereading what I had the first time, it was what I wanted to say, and my correction was actually garbled. Sheesh.
The original is accurate:
It’s just business as usual as we adapt our pages to reflect the Builder Program and allow up to date navigation of the site.
Does the post author realize *his own animated gif* showing The Tyee’s Donate link disappearing from it’s prominent place…also shows The Tyee Builder link appearing in it’s prominent place?
Mike,
I’ll make one more attempt to patiently reiterate what I’ve said before.
Regarding:
“David, you pulled the footer link on the blog section of your site to your Donate page between Thursday and Tuesday. How come?”
We did it as a mundane part of a process that, as I explained began last February, having nothing to do with Levant’s false accusations..
Regarding:
“Are you saying that the arrangement you had with Tides Canada has not changed as a result of their audit by Revenue Canada over the past twelve months?”
Yes that’s exactly what I’m saying. We are proud of the perfectly legal arrangement we’ve had with Tides Canada and the excellent public educating journalism it has enabled us to produce for the benefit of Canadians..
Your facts, conclusion and accusations are wrong is what I’m saying and I don’t know any other way to tell you the headline to your post and much of what’s in it contains falsehoods. I’m done posting here. It’s now up to you to decide what to do about the correcting information I’ve presented to you.
Thanks for the clarification Dave. And I am finished reading or posting here until the false accusations are removed, or proved to be true.
It is very dangerous for a commentator to attack other commentators. It usually shows they are running out of ideas and they are at the end of their career. There is always a job at a fast food restaurant. You must try to be analytical, not political.
Mike, while I gave you points for letting Beers respond, you have kept your article breathlessly reproducing Levant’s lies posted. That is beneath contempt. Thankfully the people of Vancouver knew enough not to elect you to council.
W,your a goof.
You’re better than this, Mike – I get that you hold a different politics than the Tyee, and I find myself somewhere in the middle (neither fully with you or the Tyee), but I would think you could separate your disagreement with their point of view from wild accusations. It pains me to say it: but this is a pretty disgusting smear piece.
Heaven forbid Canadians have the choice to fund investigate journalism — god knows our media conglomerates have too much skin in the game to look under the covers.
I’m disappointed in you.