Waterloo MPP Catherine Fife accused of misusing legislative email, she says it's an error

Waterloo NDP MPP Catherine Fife has been accused of misusing her legislative email for partisan reasons, but Fife says an email with a link to her party's websitewas included in the email by mistake.

PC MPP Dave Smith, who serves Peterborough-Kawarthas, sent a letter to Speaker Ted Arnott saying Fife violated the Members' Integrity Act. Smith saidFife, the NDP's finance critic, sent an email on Feb. 3 asking people for feedback on the upcoming provincial budget.

He said that email from her legislative email included a link to the NDP's websiteand the website includes a "donate" button at the top of the page.

"This represents a clear violation of the Members' Integrity Act, as the member is using legislative resources, her legislative stature and role as a parliamentary critic to promote a partisan resources, which included direct solicitation of a financial contribution as the only way to provide input regarding the budget consultation process," Smith wrote in his undated letter to Arnott, which was circulated to media on Wednesday.

He asked Arnottto send the issue to the province's integrity commissioner.

'We apologize for the error'

A statement's from Fife's office said an incorrect link was included in the email in error.

"We apologize for the error and have already corrected it, as well as taken internal steps to ensure it doesn't happen again," the statement said. "We look forward to co-operating with the Speaker and integrity commissioner to ensure we've taken all the right steps to correct this mistake."

Arnott, PC MPP for Wellington-Halton Hills, said he will not be forwarding Smith's complaint as that's not part of his role as Speaker.

"It would not be appropriate for the Speaker to refer matters to the integrity commissioner on behalf of members. Any member who wishes to file a complaint under the jurisdiction of the integrity commissioner can do so directly to his office," Arnott said in an email.

More consultation on budget needed: Fife

Fife held a press conference on Wednesday to respond to the province releasing itsthird quarter financial report and she said the reason she was seeking feedback from people is because she believesthe Progressive Conservatives aren't doing enough consultation on the budget.

The province has invited people to offer feedbackonline, by email, mailor through virtual consultations. Those consultations close Feb. 12. The budget is expected to be delivered March 31.

"We fixed our error as soon as we saw that there was a partisan email address on it, we fixed it and now we want the provincial government to fix their process," Fife said."They should be consulting with the people of this province on budget 2021. It should be an open and transparent process."