Flyers published by the federal Conservative government and distributed at taxpayer expense are thinly disguised election campaign ads, outraged critics say.

The gritty prose found in the two different flyers that have recently arrived in East Vancouver mailboxes denounces past governments for giving drug pushers and "junkies" free rein, leaving neighbourhoods unsafe, and it promises that the government will clean up drug crime.

Next to a question that asks "Who is on the right track?" is a picture of a smiling Prime Minister Stephen Harper, an election ballot with an arrow pointing to his name, and a form for people to fill out the ballot and send it back to the government in the postage-paid envelope provided.

Jim Burgner was outraged when he found flyers from two different out-of -province MPs in his mailbox.

"To be sending it out under the auspices of a member of Parliament and be using my tax dollars to do this — and then my tax dollars to send it back to them — I find totally reprehensible," the Vancouver resident said.

Mark Holland, a Liberal MP from a riding east of Toronto who was personally targeted in one of the flyers, launched a formal complaint with the Speaker of the House, saying they contravene Commons bylaws

"That's simply wrong … sending out extremely partisan material," Holland said. "All of these activities, particularly the most recent examples, are in such blatant disregard of the rules. They have to stop."

Duff Conacher of the group Democracy Watch agreed: "It's really recruitment for the Conservative party, not information for voters in an MP's riding."

Controversy erupted in Barrie, Ont., when the Tories mailed similar flyers to residents there last month.

A spokesman in the Prime Minister's Office said the government stands behind the flyers, adding they meet the criteria required for such mailings, since their purpose is to raise public awareness.