Liberals accused of hypocrisy with mail-out before expected by-election

The McNeil government is being accused of hypocrisy for a partisan mail-out being sent to areas of the province that will soon be electing new provincial politicians.

The single-sheet flyer is going out to 33,000 homes in Dartmouth, Sydney and industrial Cape Breton.

By-elections are expected to be held soon in the ridings of Dartmouth South, Cape Breton Centre and Sydney-Whitney Pier.

"These pamphlets are clear attempts to use taxpayer dollars to fund Liberal by-election material," Progressive Conservative finance critic Tim Houston says in an email.

"The Liberals complained to Elections Nova Scotia about this very thing in 2013 and now are doing it themselves. It's hypocritical and wrong."

In August of 2013, just days before then NDP Premier Darrell Dexter called the general election, the NDP caucus office sent out 220,000 pamphlets lauding his government's work.

At the time, Liberal Leader Stephen McNeil called it a way for the NDP to get around campaign funding rules.

The mail-out cost taxpayers $40,000. 

The party later paid Elections Nova Scotia $363 for using some of the material during the actual campaign. Former cabinet minister Sterling Belliveau was one of those who handed out the material in violation of elections rules.

But Liberal deputy premier Diana Whalen on Friday rejected the opposition's claim her party is being hypocritical.

"It has to be looked at as an education piece," she said. "As a government we're making tough decisions.

"There's a lot of steps to be taken to get to a balanced budget and we really feel that this is important that we communicate what we've done in the spring session, so thank you." 

The manager of communications for the Liberal caucus, Dylan Blair, said the party is planning to send out material to other parts of the province.

Asked repeatedly why caucus chose the three specific areas for their current mail out, Blair stuck to the same answer.