By Chris Marchand

Greg Rickford is a little peeved to say the least.

The Kenora MP maintains he’s done nothing untoward, despite Liberal government ethics critic MP Marlene Jennings’ (Notre-Dame-de-Grace/Lachine) intentions to send a letter to the Speaker of the House of Commons over what she perceives to be improper use of parliamentary resources by Rickford to promote a Dryden Rifle and Pistol Club fundraiser, Aug. 14.

The story came to light in the Toronto Star, Aug. 13

Rickford was promoting a question and answer session around an upcoming vote on Bill C-391 which he performed at the Dryden Rifle and Pistol Club’s annual Gun and Collectibles Show, just prior to a Spaghetti Dinner fundraiser for the club.

“I never actually seen anything so asinine in my life,” said Rickford. “In no way do I feel I’ve broken the rules. I was hosting an information and question and answer session — the supper was incidental to it, and directly followed that information session. Within the rules as they are laid out, I was doing my job by communicating parliamentary work to my constituents. I never advertised for those organizations, I simply said there would be a supper following and that the benefactors would be the Dryden Agricultural Society and the Dryden Rifle and Pistol Club.”

It was bound to be a politically charged evening in Dryden as Rickford’s long-gun info session was planned for the same time as a visit from Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff — a visit that was cancelled following the death of Ignatieff’s director of communications Mario Lague.

Former Liberal MP for Kenora Roger Valley says that he had nothing to do with notifying MP Jennings, that word of Rickford’s alleged misuse of resources reached her via an unknown local party.

Valley says rules are clear — parliamentary resources cannot be used to build signs, radio, print or website ads that promote any one group or activity.

“This all seems like a tempest in a teapot and it probably is,” said Valley. “But no parliamentarian is allowed to use taxpayer’s money to promote one group. You’re not allowed to do that. If he didn’t break the rules, why did he run down and cover up all of the conservative logos on his sign.”

Rickford says he believes this sudden scrutiny smacks of political retribution for his role on the federal ethics committee.

“I took Bob Rae and a group of leadership candidates to task for using their parliamentary websites and donation sites to pay down their leadership debts,” said Rickford. “All’s fair in politics and war, the difficulty is that what Marlene’s accusing me off doesn’t fit the test in any way shape or form. This is nothing more than an attempt by the Liberal to further their position on maintaining the long-gun registry.”

-Chris Marchand