HALIFAX – Nova Scotia’s premier says his party will pay for flyers mailed into ridings where byelections are expected, after the Liberals were criticized for trying to bill taxpayers for a partisan mailout.
Stephen McNeil said Wednesday his party wasn’t clear on the rules when the caucus sent 33,000 postcard-style flyers into the vacant ridings of Cape Breton Centre, Sydney-Whitney Pier and Dartmouth South during the third week of May.
On Tuesday, Elections Nova Scotia said it was investigating a complaint by Tim Houston, a Progressive Conservative member of the legislature, alleging the Liberals broke a rule banning the spending of government money for partisan materials during an election campaign.
The letter from Houston also said the legislation defines a byelection campaign as beginning when the seat becomes vacant.
All of the ridings that received the mailouts are vacant, but the date of the byelections hasn’t been announced yet.
McNeil said in an interview the Liberals thought the $7,000 mailout was permitted in the time before a byelection is called, and when party officials learned that wasn’t the case they agreed to pay the cost for the flyers.
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