A Conservative MP whose staffer leaked a confidential budget report is being shielded by fellow Tories from having to answer opposition questions on whether the aide also ran a private political printing operation out of her office.
Kelly Block, a Saskatchewan MP, testified before a Commons committee on Thursday that her office, by chance, discovered evidence of the leak on Nov. 18 in an e-mail trail that disgraced staffer Russell Ullyatt forwarded to another office aide.
The second staffer noticed lower down in the forwarded e-mail that Mr. Ullyatt had sent the Commons finance committee’s confidential draft pre-budget report to lobbyist Lynn Hamilton, a vice-president at GCI Group. Mr. Ullyatt leaked the document to a total of five lobbyists, all of whom he’d approached in attempts to land a job.
Ms. Block said she was “shocked and appalled” to discover what Mr. Ullyatt had done, adding that she fired him the morning after learning of the leak and informed the chair of the Commons finance committee what had happened. The committee subsequently abandoned efforts to issue a report on this year’s pre-budget recommendations.
The Saskatchewan MP enjoyed an exceptionally strong show of support from fellow Tories as she faced a grilling from the opposition on Thursday. This included an escort to her seat from Government House Leader John Baird, who told reporters he was “just here helping a friend.”
The Conservatives forcefully objected when opposition MPs tried to steer questions to the subject of Mr. Ullyatt’s private printing company, which has boasted of sending more than five million pieces of mail in the past two years as “Canada’s only completely political mail provider.”
New Democrat Thomas Mulcair, who has said he’s seen a “very elaborate printing machine” and pallets of boxes outside Ms. Block’s office, tried to ask why the Saskatchewan MP would need these materials. But Joe Preston, the Conservative chairman of the committee, said the questions were irrelevant to the leak of the budget report.
Parliamentary rules do not allow MPs’ offices to be used for activities that are clearly of a private interest, and a secretive all-party Commons body called the Board of Internal Economy is investigating whether Mr. Ullyatt was running a business out of Ms. Block’s office.
Ms. Block cut short her testimony to MPs on Thursday, saying she had “other commitments.”
She left after one hour, refusing to stay for a scheduled second hour of hearings and declining to answer any questions from journalists as she departed. Fellow Conservatives defended Ms. Block, noting that as an MP she is not legally required to appear before committees at all.
Ms. Block said Mr. Ullyatt’s leak to five lobbyists was the only such breach of which she was aware, but she dodged questions on whether she knew everything he did in her office.
Earlier this week, Mr. Ullyatt confirmed to a parliamentary committee – after some protest – that he is the owner of a political printing company called R. U. Thinking that operates online at Bestmail.ca. Ms. Block said she was not aware Mr. Ullyatt owned these companies when she hired him.
Mr. Ullyatt served as campaign manager for Saskatchewan MP Rob Clarke during the 2008 election. Mr. Mulcair noted a controversy during that campaign involving allegations that a uniformed RCMP officer was delivering Clarke signs. He quoted a report in which Mr. Ullyatt said, “If the story is true, it's very unfortunate,” and asked if Ms. Block had searched for material on the staffer before hiring him.
“I certainly didn’t Google Russell Ullyatt,” Ms. Block said, adding she checked all his references before giving him a job.
