N.L. man perplexed by mailing from Sask. MP
Last Updated: Wednesday, July 15, 2009 | 6:29 PM NT
CBC News
Yorkton-Melville MP Garry Breitkreuz (CBC)A Newfoundland man is wondering why he's getting mail from a Saskatchewan member of Parliament.
Chris Brooks, who lives in St. John's, checked his mailbox Wednesday morning and found a political flyer attacking Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff.
What caught his eye was the name of the sender. It came from the office of Yorkton-Melville MP Garry Breitkreuz, a Conservative.
"I thought, who is this guy and why is he sending me this piece of mail?" Brooks said.
"I mean, it seems OK if I was in his riding, or even in the same province. But I mean, doesn't it cost a lot of money to be blitzkrieging everyone in Newfoundland with flyers?"
Brooks said his neighbours received the same mail-out, and he's puzzled because there's no unique Newfoundland perspective or information in the flyer.
An aide to Breitkreuz had no immedate explanation, but said his office is checking into what happened.
Last year the same issue arose in New Brunswick, when residents of Fredericton and Moncton received the so-called "10-per-center" flyers from MPs in Ontario and the Prairies.
Federal MPs are allowed to send flyers to any riding in Canada as long as they are not sent to more than 10 per cent of households in the riding.
The Liberals have complained about the way the government side is using the mailing privilege, saying the free mailings should be devoted to parliamentary business.
