david anderson new

Cypress Hills-Grasslands Member of Parliament David Anderson was within the rules when he intervened in CRTC deliberations last month.

In September, Anderson wrote a letter to the federal broadcast regulator during a public comment period into a review of rules and practices for the distribution of TV news channels, saying the CRTC should treat all broadcasters equally when comes to mandatory carriage on cable and satellite.

That prompted the opposition New Democrats to accuse him of violating ethics rules, but Anderson said that the Ethics Commissioner told him this morning that he acted appropriately when taking part in the proceedings.

"I've heard from constituents for a few years on this issue, and just thought a public comment period is a good time for people to make their views known and believed that it was appropriate for me as Member of Parliament to represent my constituents that way, and she has affirmed that," Anderson said. "The real issue of both the code and the act that apply to us are whether an individuals private interests are being advanced or not, and in this case, there were no private interests. I wasn't talking somebody, I was talking about everybody, and so the ethics commissioner made the determination that there was no private interest served, and there's no need for her to be concerned about the application of either the code or the act."

In a news report on the letter published by the Canadian Press two weeks ago, NDP MP Charlie Angus said Anderson, who is Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, should not be writing to a "semi-judicial body" such as the CRTC, and called the letter a clear breach of the rules.

"Charlie Angus has a lot of things to say, and if you know him at all, you know he's typically talking when sometimes he should be thinking," Anderson added. "I actually went into the House this morning and asked him if he was going to apologize and he declined to do that, but that's up to him. It's a reflection on him more than it is on me... and as far as I'm concerned, we'll leave the matter at that."

Anderson added that he will continue to represent the people of the riding within compliance of the rules.