Whereas parliamentarians send out newsletters to attract public attention, many of them refusing to share these taxpayer-funded mailouts with academics for research purposes.
Alex Marland, a well-known expert on political communication and party politics, said, “The secrecy (with) some MPs and their offices deal with these things is astonishing.”
“It makes you wonder, what kind of democracy do we live in?”
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Lawmakers in charge of spending policies declined to be interviewed on the matter.
Marland and some of his political science students at Memorial University of Newfoundland analyzed newsletters to be sent to lawmakers for free in 2021, known as homeownership.
These fairly innocuous mailouts typically include lots of photos of MPs at events in the riding, information on how to access government programs, and how federal cash has been spent at the local level.
The House of Commons pays to print and translate four of these rounds per year and provides templates for MPs to use.
Members of Parliament are told to avoid openly partisan comments in their households and cannot be used to solicit votes or donations.
Marland said they are helpful to know what an MP thinks will resonate in their constituency, and whether they tell voters something separate from their leader’s point of view, or separate from the MP’s comments in the House of Commons and the media. Huh.
“A big problem in Canadian politics is the perception that all MPs are just toeing the party line,” he said.
“MPs have said different things in different parts of the country, and if there are discrepancies it is important for people to understand.”
Marland co-led a research project in 2010 that analyzed whether lawmakers portrayed themselves as insiders or outsiders.
After the team asked all MPs about their latest housewives, 26 per cent provided a copy and 21 per cent had a copy available on the MP’s website.
“Political staffers sometimes require verbal reassurance that the newsletter will not be used to embarrass the MP,” the researchers noted at the time.
This time, Marland and his colleagues set out to measure MPs’ messaging after the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, such as whether the apparent decline in partisanship inside the Commons translated into messaging to constituents.
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“I don’t remember how much frustration I felt this time,” said Marland, whose latest round of research is being sent out for peer review.
About 330 MPs were involved in the project, accounting for vacancies where by-elections were pending, and Marland’s colleagues also paused their research for the 2021 election period. Eventually he collected 150 newspapers.
An increasing number of MPs from different parties post all their housemates online. Other lawmakers quickly provided a copy to the students, and some needed followup calls or a postal letter from Marland explaining the request.
But many more turned back during a similar project a decade ago, and many more ignored the requests. Some told Marland to make the request through their MP’s constituency office. Some offices send automatic replies to all emails stating that they prioritize the constituents and requesting the individual’s postal code.
An MP observed a student who requested his housekeeper and observed that the student had attended an event organized by an opposing political party, which he cited as grounds for not participating in the study.
Some MPs said they generally do not participate in surveys, while one claimed they were unable to provide examples.
Marland said that conservatives were more reluctant to aid academics, which he said echoed a broader North American trend of right-wing parties promoting negative views of universities.
But he said a Conservative MP explained there was only a reluctance because of the number of academic requests MPs receive.
Canada Post sends mail to homeowners for free and MPs can use their office budget to send them no more than four times a year or to translate them into non-official languages.
But MPs must follow rules such as referring to their official website only and declaring them as election expenses if they are sent close to the writ period.
In 2020, the House of Commons voted to revise the rules so that householders can include information about charities supporting those affected by COVID-19.
House officials can reject submissions they think are too partisan, a process that lawmakers have complained about for a lack of transparency. Yet, there appears to be no way for the public or political parties to monitor whether MPs are following the rules.
The House of Commons administration did not have an estimate of the cost of these newsletters. Along with Christmas cards and targeted constituency mail, they form a significant portion of the budget for advertising and printing services, which in recent years was between $9 and $12 million.
“These are not being funded solely by constituents in the ride; These are being funded by Parliament as a whole,” Marland said.
“These are not state secrets, but they are being treated as such by some people.”
He said the Internal Economy Board, a powerful committee of eight MPs that works with the Speaker to decide on regulations and office budgets, should improve transparency, such as through a public, online repository of household records.
None of the MPs on the committee will be giving interviews this week.
The Bloc Québécois said all media questions for the committee are handled by Liberal House Leader Mark Hollande and Conservative whip Kerry-Lynn Findlay, both of whom declined interview requests.
Hollande’s press secretary said that the committee had not considered whether the homonyms should be posted online in the repository.
The office of Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominique Leblanc said he was “out of cell range this week.”
Marland said the silence is a sign of partisan messaging going bad.
“When MPs are really afraid of academics doing obscure research, something that has happened in the past in the form of a document being released, it is absolutely shocking and it is really disappointing,” he said.