Toronto mayoralty candidate Rob Davis today called on Olivia Chow to suspend her mayoralty campaign until she makes full disclosure of all donors to the Institute for Change Leaders, the charity she founded in 2016 that claims to have trained more than 10,000 political activists.
In 2021, Chow’s organization reported a sudden and unexplained windfall of $564,652 in “receipted donations” – a hundred-fold increase over the $5,610 it received in 2020. The donations are documented in the charity’s annual returns filed with the Canada Revenue Agency.
“When a politically-oriented charity suddenly receives 100 times more in donations in a single year to train participants in the Canadian political system, it raises a red flag,” said Davis. “Olivia Chow must be forthcoming and explain exactly why this happened and precisely where the money came from.”
“Scandals involving donations to charities like the Trudeau Foundation and We Charity have raised the bar on Canadians’ expectations for transparency and disclosure,” said Davis. “Only through full disclosure can Olivia Chow prove to the people of Toronto that her charity’s funding has been fully compliant with the law and not subject to interference and manipulation by individuals and organizations seeking to unduly influence the Canadian political process.”
“I am calling on Olivia Chow to suspend her mayoralty campaign effective immediately, until she provides full transparency about her charity’s funding sources and makes full disclosure of all individuals and organizations who have paid for its activities,” said Davis. “If she refuses to share this information, she should withdraw from the mayor’s race.”
Davis further called on Chow to release a list of all paid and volunteer staff on her mayoralty campaign who were trained by the Institute for Change Leaders since 2016.“If Olivia Chow’s organization used tax-deductible charitable donations to train people who are now involved in her mayoralty campaign, the people of Toronto deserve to know,” Davis said.“Such activity raises legitimate questions of ethics and campaign finance that demand answers.”
Chow’s charity reported $876,731 in total revenue for 2021, four times the $223,331 it collected in 2020. In addition to receipted donations, it reported “non-receipted donations” of $27,823 in 2021 but none in 2020, “government funding” of $38,243 in 2021 compared with only $859 in 2020, and “other revenue” of $246,013 in 2021 compared with $216,862 in 2020.
