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OTTAWA–Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff is demanding that the Commons crack down on what he calls “toxic political abuse” in a taxpayer-financed system of political flyers circulated to Canadian households.

Prompted by a wave of pamphlets that went out in the last week, painting Liberal MPs as anti-Semitic, Ignatieff has written to Commons Speaker Peter Milliken with calls for strict limits to be placed on the “10-per-center” pamphlets, as they’re called.

It is the latest flare-up in the Liberal-Conservative battle over negative advertising.

Liberals are asking that MPs no longer be allowed to send these flyers beyond their own ridings and that the pamphlets bear the name of the party leader, plus his or her endorsement of the content.

Conservatives are not expected to endorse the proposal – Democratic Reform Minister Steven Fletcher said over the summer that the 10 per centers were an important contribution to political discourse.

Fred DeLorey, a Conservative party spokesman, said Sunday that an effective MP has to communicate with both constituents and Canadians across the country and that “an informed electorate is essential to a healthy, functioning democracy.”

But Milliken may be open to the Liberal demand – twice in the past several months, he has ruled that pamphlets sent out by the Conservatives have violated the privileges of MPs in other parties.

The Speaker ruled last week, for instance, in favour of a complaint by NDP MP Peter Stoffer, who was portrayed – wrongly – in Conservative pamphlets as an opponent of moves to eliminate the long-gun registry. Stoffer (Sackville-Eastern Shore) voted with the Conservatives in that private member’s bill.

Conservatives aren’t the only ones to use the system for attacks ads – this fall, the Liberals sent out highly inflammatory attacks on the government, related to the military and H1N1 flu preparation, under the names of Liberal MPs Hedy Fry and Carolyn Bennett.

But it was last week’s pamphlets, sent into Liberal ridings with large Jewish populations and characterizing Liberals as anti-Semitic, that led Ignatieff to write Milliken.

Ignatieff, in his letter, describes it as a “shocking new low” and writes: “It is time to put an end to this toxic political abuse …”

Among other things, the pamphlets portray Liberals as active participants in a conference in Durban, South Africa, where anti-Semitism was on open display. (Liberal MP Irwin Cotler was later thanked by Israel for staying at the conference to defend the nation.)

MPs can send out “householders” four times a year into their ridings. But to ensure small parties weren’t overwhelmed by this privilege, rules also allow flyers to be circulated by parties into ridings they don’t hold, up to 10 per cent of the votes they received in the last election. Thus, the name “10 per centers.”

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/729403–stop-toxic-flyers-liberals-plead