Speaker contradicts Mulcair, says NDP didn’t check with him on satellite offices

OTTAWA – NDP Leader Tom Mulcair’s claim that the Speaker of the House of Commons approved the use of parliamentary resources to pay staff in satellite party offices is being contradicted by the Speaker himself.

Andrew Scheer says no one from the NDP checked with him personally or with anyone in his office.

Mulcair has said the NDP checked and doubled-checked with the Speaker before pooling New Democrat MPs’ Commons budgets to pay for staff in satellite offices in Montreal, Quebec City and Toronto.

That assertion has been repeated by other New Democrats, including deputy leader Megan Leslie.

Scheer’s denial came today as he was testifying at a committee about the financial administration of the Commons.

Mulcair was grilled by the same committee earlier this month about the satellite offices, which he maintained were within Commons rules — until those rules were retroactively changed by rival parties to stymie the NDP’s outreach efforts.