MP suspension case goes to committee

OTTAWA – Manitoba Conservative MP Shelly Glover has changed her mind and decided to file a new expense claim with Elections Canada for the 2011 federal election.

House Speaker Andrew Scheer announced the decision by the MP for St. Boniface on Tuesday as he handed a committee the tricky question of whether Glover and James Bezan, the Tory MP for Selkirk-Interlake, should be suspended over doubtful campaign spending.

Scheer says it’s up to the committee on procedure and House affairs to decide if they should lose their MP privileges until their fight with Elections Canada is settled.

Scheer had earlier declined to suspend them because they had both gone to court to settle their disagreement with the elections watchdog.

But he reconsidered the matter after Liberal complaints and decided to let the committee decide the fate of the two Manitoba MPs.

The chief electoral officer wrote to Scheer last month requesting that voting and other MP privileges of Bezan and Glover be suspended for their failure to correct campaign expense records from the 2011 election.