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The Speaker of the House of Commons says neither he nor his office was consulted about whether the NDP could use taxpayer funds to pay staff to work in “satellite” offices outside Ottawa.

Andrew Scheer also told a committee of MPs Thursday that no one from the NDP spoke with him about whether MPs could send out a mass mailing to ridings where byelections were about to take place ― even though Leader Thomas Mulcair had said the party double-checked with Scheer.

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Mulcair, under fire from his political opponents for setting up satellite offices in Montreal and elsewhere, has previously told the committee that the House of Commons was consulted on the legality of the Montreal outreach office and determined it was within parliamentary spending rules. “It was open. It was transparent. It was public,” he said at the time.

But his party didn’t dispute testimony from House of Commons Speaker Andrew Scheer Thursday to the same committee. Scheer told MPs, “Nobody checked with me personally, or (anyone) in my office” about spending on the NDP office in Montreal.