October 21, 2009

OTTAWA, ON – Conservative Member of Parliament Greg Rickford has lodged a formal complaint with Mary Dawson, the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner.  18 Liberal MPs, almost one-quarter of the elected Liberal Caucus appear to have been fundraising through their Parliamentary online offices.

“It has been discovered that 18 Liberal MPs have been attempting to raise money using their online parliamentary offices,” said Rickford.  “The Liberal Party should not be using their online offices offering constituent services to further their private or partisan interests, or the interests of their party or riding association.”

The Liberal MPs who appear to have broken ethical standards are:

• Navdeep Bains (Mississauga-Brampton South, ON)
• Irwin Cotler (Mount Royal, QC)
• Rodger Cuzner (Cape Breton-Canso, NS)
• Ruby Dhalla (Brampton-Springdale, ON)
• Ken Dryden (York Centre, ON)
• Wayne Easter (Malpeque, PE)
• Martha Hall Findlay (Willowdale, ON)
• Hedy Fry (Vancouver Centre, BC)
• Marc Garneau (Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC)
• Lawrence MacAulay (Cardigan, PE)
• Gurbax Singh Malhi (Bramalea-Gore-Malton, ON)
• Keith Martin (Esquimalt-Juan De Fuca, BC)
• Shawn Murphy (Charlottetown, PE)
• Glen Pearson (London North Centre, ON)
• Bob Rae (Toronto Centre-Rosedale, ON)
• Mike Savage (Dartmouth-Cole Harbour, NS)
• Justin Trudeau (Papineau, QC)
• Borys Wrzesnewskyj (Etobicoke Centre, ON)

(Bold indicates MP is also using their website to help pay off failed 2006 leadership campaign debt)

The Code of Conduct for MPs is quite clear.  It states: “when performing parliamentary duties and functions, a Member shall not act in any way to further his or her private interests.”
One example is Liberal MP Marc Garneau’s website (www.marcgarneau.ca).  In addition to being able to get information about regular MP and constituent services you can become one of “Marc’s Stars...manage your own Fundraising Campaign by inviting your family and friends to contribute...(it) can include your photo, and testimony explaining the reasons that motivate you to support (Garneau) and a thermometer that shows your progress towards your goal in real time.” (www.marcgarneau.ca)

“This is another example of Liberal hypocrisy,” said Rickford.  “I am hopeful that the Ethics Commissioner and the Speaker of the House of Commons will investigate the matter further and tell the Liberal Party to stop this practice.”

The public can view each of the websites in greater detail at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/liberalmpsites/