Liberal Party to pay Speaker's office $500 for use of PM's office for fundraising video

The Liberal Party of Canada says it will pay the Speaker's office $500 in rent for the use of the prime minister's Parliament Hill office to film a fundraising video with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The party also said it would offer to return any donations made to the party that were a direct result of the video.

"Out of respect for full compliance with the House of Commons' rules, we have determined it would be appropriate to reimburse the House of Commons for that brief use of the space," said Azam Ishmael, the Liberal Party's national director, in a letter to the Speaker's office.

According to House of Commons rules, politicians cannot use parliamentary premises for partisan purposes, such as fundraising.

But last month, the Liberal Party used Trudeau's Centre Block office as the backdrop for a fundraising video that asked supporters to make donations to the party.

Earlier this week, NDP MP Charlie Angus wrote to Speaker Geoff Reganasking him to review the incident and suggest "appropriate recommendations or seek appropriate penalties." Regan is chair of the Board of Internal Economy, the committee that manages spending for House of Commons.

"The prime minister's staff has said that he used the parliamentary office because he was pressed for time by his schedule," Angus said in the letter. "While I respect the fact the prime minister of this country does have many duties to attend to, this cannot be used as a reason to breach the rules.

Counter-accusations

"I am also concerned that if the prime minister were not held accountable for his misuse of his office it would set a bad precedent for other parliamentarians."

Angus said he's still not satisfied with the Liberal Party's effortto make amends, calling the move to reimburse the House of Commons "wrong."

"This shows the complete disregard Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government have for their obligations to respect Parliament," Angus said in a statement to CBC.

"They think the rules just don't apply to them. When they get caught breaking the rules, they think they can just write a check and make it go away. It's wrong."

Ishmael's letter to Regan's office also takes shots at Angus, saying his party "still has not repaid the entire $2.7 million they owe back to the House of Commons for using public funds for partisan purposes."

In early 2015, then-Speaker Andrew Scheer ruled that 68 NDP MPs had to reimburse the Commons $2,749,362 for expenses related to the establishment of party offices outside Ottawa.

Ishmael goes on to say that the Conservative Party has used the parliamentary precinct in fundraising videos on several occasions.