Olivia Chow under fire for sending out taxpayer-funded mailers ahead of a potential mayoral campaign

There are some grumblings on Twitter that NDP MP Olivia Chow is using her Parliamentary budget to help buoy her chances in the upcoming Toronto mayoral election.

It's no secret that Chow — a former Toronto City Councillor — is eyeing Rob Ford's chair.

While she hasn't announced her candidacy, some suspect that she made the decision to run months ago but is waiting for the opportune time to throw her hat into the ring. As early as last summer, for example, the Toronto Star reported that Chow had asked election veterans John Laschinger and Joe Cressy to manage her campaign.

Since then, the widow of Jack Layton has — while earning her MP salary — consistently chided Ford, released and heavily-promoted her autobiography and has used her position as the MP for Trinity-Spadina to promote Toronto issues.

While none of that is out of line, some of her critics, opponents and reporters are now taking to Twitter to question her MP mail-outs paid for by Canadian taxpayers.

It should be noted that the last Tweet is from Nick Kouvalis who is reportedly working on John Tory's mayoral campaign.

[ Related: Olivia Chow’s inevitable mayoral campaign won’t change much for Rob Ford ]

Cressy — who says that he's actively encouraging Olivia to run for mayor — claims that Chow is just doing her job as a member of Parliament.

"Olivia Chow is an MP. Constituents...expect their MPs to work for them and to work on the issues that matter to them," he told Yahoo Canada News, noting that Chow represents one of the largest and fastest growing ridings in the country.

"The householder you're asking about dealt with immigration services and family reintegration, funding for Canada Post to protect home delivery...youth unemployment, infrastructure programs to apprenticeship programs for kids."

Cressy added that the most recent newsletter was actually created in January and went to House of Commons printing press on February 6th.

When asked if Chow has made her decision to run, Cressy suggested we ask her.

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