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July 8th, 2008
Today, I received the second letter from “Jack Layton M.P.” in an unstamped, house of commons envelope.
Click on image to enlargeI always understood the free commons mail privileges where for communicating with your constituents, not sending mailers to somebody else’s constituent. I wonder if this is legal, and if so, ethical?
I hold my breath in anticipation of a commons committee investigating Jack Layton’s mailing list habits. Meanwhile, I shall contact my M.P. to see if he knows about this.
For the record Gary, I have two of these envelopes, and they are yours if you think you’ll find them handy.
Yes it’s in accordance with House rules and all caucuses do it.
I get Jack’s missives here in Davenport riding too.
Sorry to tell you this but this is a perfectly legal practice and indeed all the parties send mailers into ridings where they do not have a sitting member. In fact the Cons do it MORE than all the other parties.
Sending mailers into ridings where they don’t have members, yes. My issue is using the free mail service provided to MPs to send those mailers. And if it’s OK and normal practise, it sure as hell shouldn’t be.
Joan, your comment came later, much later than Jaybird. I was responding to his comment specifically. Thanks for the clarification.
Are the rules on this publicly available information? I couldn’t find anything about it when I searched. Any idea where I might find it?
Thanks again to both of you.