A majority of MPs in the Commons this week voted to ban sending political mailouts beyond their home ridings but the Conservative government says it will continue the practice anyway.
Huron-Bruce Conservative MP Ben Lobb disagrees with the Liberal criticism that the mailouts are “partisan propaganda”.
Lobb says the mailouts are an effective way for all parties to get the word out to voters back home.
Lobb dismisses the motion brought during this week’s Opposition Day as little more than a Liberal finger-pointing exercise.
Lobb says Liberal MP Wayne Easter’s motion to stop the program is hypocritical because the former Agriculture Minister told the House he uses the program four times a month.
Lobb says Easter’s motion distracted Canadians from what the Harper government is trying to accomplish.
Lobb says Easter is quick to criticize government efforts on job-creation and defecit reduction without offering constructive ideas of his own.
Lobb says dumping the mailout program in favour of e-mail is still impractical for many MP’s.
Lobb says mailouts are an effective way of keeping many people, especially seniors, informed about the work their MPs are doing on Parliament Hill.
He says many Canadians are still without Internet service and that any thought about e-mailing constituents is likely at least 10 years away.
Figures presented in the Commons show Conservative MPs incurred 62 per cent of all printing costs on mailouts last year despite holding only 45 per cent of the seats in Parliament.