NDP to be asked to pay back public purse for millions of pieces of mail

OTTAWA – The NDP could be asked to repay potentially millions of dollars worth of mail it sent out into dozens of ridings on the taxpayers’ dime.

The closed-door committee of MPs that examines matters of House of Commons spending found Monday that a number of NDP members had broken the rules around the use of parliamentary resources.

The Board of Internal Economy had been looking at up to 1.8 million pieces of mail that had been sent into dozens of ridings using Commons envelopes and the free postage services available to MPs.

Conservatives and Liberals on the committee together found that the mail was partisan in nature, and therefore contravened the bylaws that govern spending by MPs’ offices.

Who exactly will be asked to repay the money and how is unclear — dozens of MPs were involved in the mailouts, with NDP Leader Tom Mulcair’s office responsible for a large proportion.

Commons Speaker Andrew Scheer is expected to make a statement about the matter Tuesday morning.