House of Commons Speaker Andrew Scheer found himself plunged into the middle of controversy Thursday after he told a parliamentary committee he had never been asked by the NDP about rules concerning mailing privileges, only to have to admit afterwards that he had indeed been consulted.

The admission came after the NDP made public copies of the letter it sent the Speaker, proving that it had asked him to clarify the rules about bulk mailings to Canadians.

In a letter to Conservative MP Joe Preston, chairman of the procedure and House affairs committee, made public by the Speaker’s office, Scheer said he wanted to “avoid any confusion,” created when he told Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux that nobody in the NDP had consulted him before the party began mailing pamphlets to more than a million households, including some where byelections were about to be called.

“I wish to confirm that my answer to his question stands,” Scheer wrote. “At the same time I do wish to add for clarity’s sake that last year, on April 8th, 2013, I received a letter from the Whip of the Official Opposition seeking clarification on a number of issues having to do with mailing privileges.”

“In response to that letter, the Board of Internal Economy considered the matter at its June 3rd, 2013 meeting, and on June 6th, 2013, the Board issued a communiqué to all Members on these matters.”

At that meeting, the Board, which oversees the House of Commons, changed the rules to put a cap on the number of pieces of mail an MP can send out at one time using their mailing privileges and the number of envelopes that would be paid for by the House of Commons.

The NDP insists that it had verbal permission from the House of Commons before the mailings went out.

At issue is whether the NDP misused House of Commons resources to the tune of millions of dollars to pay for satellite offices and pamphlets mailed across the country.

Thursday, Scheer got drawn directly into the question when he was asked during a committee hearing into the House of Commons budget whether NDP Leader Tom Mulcair was telling the truth when he had ever consulted him before setting up the offices and sending out hundreds of thousands of pamphlets.

During a hearing by the procedure and House affairs committee, Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux asked Scheer about the NDP’s mailings, framing it as a question about House of Commons oversight of spending by MPs.

“On March 24, the leader of the Opposition in response to a question about NDP mailings stated, and I will quote, ‘We checked and double checked with the Speaker before going that road.’ Mr. Speaker, can you indicate who from the NDP checked with you before sending out these mailings?”

“Nobody did,” Scheer responded.

The debate continued after the committee meeting ended with the Liberals and the NDP attacking each other to reporters, in clear view of the other.

“What has gone on here is that the leader of the official Opposition attempted to mislead Canadians – that is what it would appear,” charged Lamoureux.

New Democrat MP David Christopherson was quick to shoot back.

“I’m not going to allow ourselves to be sucked into some Liberal sleeze maneuver that takes them to their favorite subject which is mud slinging.”

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