Swift Current, January 12, 2009 - David Anderson Member of Parliament for Cypress Hills-Grasslands was pleased to learn Friday Jan 9, 2009 that the House of Commons Ethics Commissioner found no ethical rules were broken by Mr. Anderson in the recent Canadian Wheat Board elections.
 
‘It’s a great day. We knew that we had done nothing wrong and that has been confirmed by this ruling. The Commissioner’s ruling clearly indicates that we were advancing a clear government policy to bring about marketing freedom for Western Canadian farmers and that there was nothing inappropriate about that.”
 
The preliminary investigation was required and done in response to a complaint by Winnipeg MP Pat Martin.
 
“Mr. Martin needs to be much more careful in his accusations. He besmirched the reputations of a number of Members of Parliament with his baseless allegation and should have the integrity to apologize. It’s easy to make accusations. Let’s see if he can as easily admit he was wrong.”
 
Mr. Anderson has released the full text of the Commissioner’s ruling. It can be found on his website, davidanderson.ca
 
‘We have nothing to hide. Mr Martin and other extremists have tried to cloud the issue with numerous false allegations. Because support for marketing choice continues to rise, they are running scared. Rather than deal with the real challenges faced by farmers, the Opposition has once again chosen political games. We believe that the Commissioner’s ruling will clear this issue up for those who are interested in the facts.’
 
The Commissioner’s ruling follows an earlier ruling on December 04, 2008 by the Speaker of the House of Commons that Members of Parliament were within their right to communicate with constituents as they did.
 
In previous CWB elections, MPs ability and right to send out mailouts have been affirmed by the House of Commons Legal Counsel, which confirmed that such mail outs were neither advertising nor an expense.