Taking a flyer

Readers of Inside Politics will know that the Conservatives love to make creative use of their right to mail out flyers to 10 per cent of the households in a riding.

The cost is borne by taxpayers.

These flyers are supposed to allow MPs to communicate with their home ridings on important issues.

But the Conservatives like to use these flyers to attack the opposition Liberals in their ridings.

Two examples that came out today. And Liberals are crying foul.

First, the Conservatives sent a flyer into the Eglinton riding of Joe Volpe entitled "Commitments to Canada's Jewish Community."

Inside the flyer purports to contrast the Conservatives support for Israel, and the fight against terrorism, with what the flyer describes as Liberal support for anti-Semitic activities, and lack of support for Israel.

Volpe's riding in Toronto has a large Jewish population.

Today, he accused the Conservatives of lying, and falsifying the Liberals' positions.

''It's clearly an absolute travesty. It smears not only the people associated with Liberalism. But it tarnishes the image of every Member of Parliament.''

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney insists it's all true.

He insists Ignatieff did say Israel was guilty of war crimes in 2006.

He ran through a list of what he called ''facts'' that showed various Liberal MPs supported anti-Semitic activity.

"Anyone who's suggesting that we're accusing partisan adversaries of holding unacceptable views is wrong. I say their policies were mistaken. And this simply calls them to account. That's what we call political debate in a democracy.''
 
Then there's the second example: a flyer mailed into the Yukon riding of Liberal Larry Bagnell that the Conservatives acknowledged in the Commons contained inaccurate information that Bagnell voted in favour of the long-gun registry.

In fact,  Bagnell voted to support a Conservative private member's bill to scrap it.

The Conservatives' deputy house leader, Tom Lukiwski, apologized publicly for the mistake, but not without taking a shot at the Liberals.

"To be fair, Mr. Speaker, it can be confusing to determine which Liberal members support the registry and those who don't. After all, it was the Liberal Party who invented the wasteful long-gun registry and the same Liberal Party today which is fighting to keep it in existence.''

So. An apology, of sorts, in one case.

Defiance in the other.

And more flyers, no doubt, heading to mailboxes around the country.