Bloc alleges byelection sabotage
Voters casting ballots in four byelections Monday
Last Updated: Monday, November 9, 2009 | 6:17 PM ET
The Canadian Press
The Bloc Québecois has filed a police complaint over what it described as sabotage in one of four federal byelections on Monday.
The Bloc said it contacted police after someone impersonated one of its members in a phone call Monday to voters in eastern Quebec.
The party said someone pretending to be Bloc MP Christiane Gagnon left bizarre, recorded messages urging people to vote for her colleague Nancy Gagnon.
Nancy Gagnon is hoping to hold the Rivière-du-Loup-area riding for the party in a hotly contested race against the Conservatives.
The riding of Montmagnuy-L'Islet-Kamouraska-Rivière-du-Loup is considered a potential bellwether and victory would be considered a huge coup for the Tories.
The Bloc said someone pretending to be their Quebec City MP left halting, unprofessional-sounding phone messages urging people to vote for the Bloc. It says the calls were designed to leave a negative impression of the party.
The MP filed a police complaint, party president Hugues Belzile signed an affidavit and the party is also complaining to Elections Canada.
"What we want is an investigation to know who's behind this operation," Christiane Gagnon said in an interview.
Voters also cast ballots Monday in the Montreal-area riding of Hochelaga, the Nova-Scotia riding of Cumberland-Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley and the B.C. riding of New Westminster-Coquitlam.
