August 01, 2008 - 03:49

By Keith Gilligan

DURHAM -- Mark Holland has filed a complaint with the House of Commons Speaker about flyers sent out by the Conservative Party.

And, Mr. Holland is backed by an opinion from Louis Mac Habee, a parliamentary counsel, who said the flyers may contravene rules governing government bylaws.

Mr. Holland, the MP for Ajax-Pickering Riding, has asked Speaker Peter Milliken to refer the matter to the Board of Internal Economy, a House of Commons committee made up of MPs from the federal parties. He's hoping the BOIE would convene a hearing "in the next couple of weeks, the first half of August."

The flyers, distributed to some homes in Ajax-Pickering, were sent 'compliments of Jacques Gourde,' a Conservative MP from Quebec.

MPs are allowed to send flyers, known as '10 per centers', to 10 per cent of their riding or any other riding in the country. Mr. Gourde is the MP for Lotbinière-Chutes-de-la-Chaudièr Riding, which is on the south side of the St. Lawrence River, opposite Quebec City.

The flyer includes the lines 'Where is Ajax-Pickering MP Mark Holland?' and 'Why vote for Mark, when Mark won't vote for you?' There is also a picture of Mr. Holland on a milk carton with the caption Have You Seen This Man?

There's also a mock ballot, with the names and faces of four of the five party leaders. Not included is Gilles Duceppe, the leader of the Bloc Quebecois. The flyer asks which leader the voter would choose and is to be returned to the office of the Conservative's caucus offices.

In his letter to the speaker, Mr. Holland said, "Over the last several weeks, constituents in my riding of Ajax-Pickering have received tenpercenters from Conservative MPs that in the opinion of the Office of the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel contain electoral content. As campaign literature, these tenpercenters blatantly contravene rules governing House of Commons free printing and mailing privileges."

Mr. Mac Habee, in a letter to Karl Maretic, Mr. Holland's assistant, said, "In our view, it is not appropriate for a tenpercenter to make direct or indirect allusions to elections, that is, to use House resources to prompt electors to vote in a certain way in a general election or a byelection."

Including the line Why vote for Mark... along with the ballot "takes this tenpercenter outside parliamentary matters and makes it, in our view, a document with an electoral intent or objective.

"Consequently, we are of the opinion that the content of this tenpercenter, considered as a whole, seems to contravene the bylaws of the Board of Internal Economy," Mr. Mac Habee wrote.

For a complaint to be upheld by the BOIE, the board would have to be unanimous in its decision, Mr. Maretic said.

Mr. Holland said in an interview the issue has "sort of erupted into something national and there's a call, overall, on how these are being used."

About $3 million a year is being spent on tenpercenters, with MPs "sending them out in unbelievable amounts" to attack MPs from other parties, Mr. Holland said. "That's contrary to what tenpercenters are to do."

He's asking that "taxpayers be reimbursed by the riding association (of the offending MP) or the Conservative Party."

Conservative MPs are sending out the flyers at a four-to-one rate over the other parties, Mr. Holland said. "They're coming out of the Conservative's research bureau."

British Columbia Conservative MP Jay Hill, who sits on the board, disputed Mr. Mac Habee's interpretation.

"We've never heard there's a problem with this, I don't believe there is a problem as far as (the pamphlet) being technically correct," Mr. Hill said.

"The Conservative party has become very proficient in the use of these types of communications and I think that's what upsets people like Mr. Holland," Mr. Hill said.

-- with files from Torstar News

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