NDP Afraid of Being Made to Pay for Pamphlet Postages

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Federal New Democrats have criticized a ruling by the secretive House of Commons committee, dominated by the Conservatives, alleging that the party should to pay back an estimated tens of thousands of dollars in postage costs instead of the taxpayers. NDP MPs were being investigated to have sent thousands of pieces of pro-NDP mail into the Montreal riding of Bourassa just before the November byelection, which was won by Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg.

According to the rules of House of Commons, MPs are allowed to send pamphlets at taxpayer expense into any riding except their own but with certain rules. One such rule is that no riding can receive mailings during an election period. However, the NDP is accused of distributing party propaganda into Bourassa, where they lost the seat, during the byelection period. Whereas, the NDP claims to have sent out the mailings before the byelection was called, technically the recipients got them in their mail during the campaign period.

Although Elections Canada did not find any wrongdoing by the NDP in the case, the secretive rule-making committee of MPs dominated by the Conservatives, i.e. the House of Commons Board of Internal Economy, concluded that the NDP were in the wrong. Hence, it is feared that the committee would ask NDP MPs or the party itself to pay for the cost. The NDP have accused the Tories and the Liberals of hijacking an otherwise a non-partisan House of Common committee for political ends. A senior New Democrat staffer was heard saying “this means war” on Monday night.