Stephen Harper mails byelection voters, says he 'needs' candidate

The Conservative Party has taken the unusual stepin the Brandon-Souris byelectionofdistributing letters signed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, urging people to vote for his party.

The letter takes aim at the Justin Trudeau-led Liberals and tells voters in the Manitoba ridingthat Harper needs Conservative candidate Larry Maguire as part of his team in Ottawa.

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Brandon voter Kathryn Giesbrecht said she received the letter this week, addressed to her maiden name,and wasnt impressed with the tactic.

I found it insulting, she said. "I get this great letter, but I am a university student, and the Conservative candidate couldnt be bothered to come and talk to me."

Giesbrecht said the letter makes the Conservatives look desperate for votes in the election.

The Conservatives are scrambling. You are looking at $1, easily $1 to $1.50 per letter, she said, adding theyre all over her riding."I'm not really impressed and I think that they're grasping at straws to try and get that last couple of votes."

Giesbrecht also wants to know who paid for the letter, whether it was sent with taxpayer moneyor came out of the Conservative Partys pocket.

The letters return address indicates it came from the Conservative Party of Canada, but also contains the signature of Harper.

The unusual move is only the latest in what has been a bizarre and increasingly close byelection, one each party appears desperate to win.

Leaders of both the NDP, TomMulcair, and Trudeau have visited the riding to ramp up support for their candidates, Cory Szczepanski and Rolf Dinsdale respectively.

Harper announced on Thursday he would be visiting Winnipeg on Friday, but his staff were adamant he would not make an appearance in Brandon-Souris or Provencher, where another byelection is underway.

The Conservative Party has, however, distributed attack ads taking aim at Trudeaus stance on marijuana and gun laws.

The party has also criticized Dinsdale for not having strong enough roots in the riding. Dinsdalecreated a brief controversyduring the campaign when his punk-rock band and previous claims about his work experience surfaced.

The traditionally right-leaning riding was previously held by Conservative MP Merv Tweed, who vacated the seatto take a top jobat the Canadian division of rail company OmniTrax. And before that, a long line of Conservatives. In fact, the party has only lost an election in the riding once in the past 60 years.

If the Liberals were to win, it would be embarrassing and demoralizing for the Conservatives, saidUniversity of Manitoba political studies professor Royce Koop.

The fact that the leaders are actually campaigning, and theyre putting time and investing effort into the riding shows that they actually care about it that this is a race that the parties are very concerned with and interested in winning.

Recent polls have favoured the Liberals, but Maguire said in a debate the numbers didnt faze him. Other candidates have called Maguireto the carpet for missing two all-candidates debates.

Maguire alsoavoided a scheduled interview with CBC after one of thedebates.

Ex-MPhints at unhappiness with new candidate

Tweed said he hopes the Conservatives maintain their hold in the area, but added he wasnt happy with the nomination process that ultimately resulted in Maguire being chosen as the Tory candidate.

I think a good race is what you need to build your party and team and regrettably that didnt happen, so people didnt get the chance, said Tweed, referring to Chris Kennedy being tossed out of the Conservative competition over issues with his nomination papers.

Despite that, Tweed said he still thinks the Conservative Partywill winthe riding.

I think the people that have voted Conservative are happy with what the Harper government has done, he said. Weve brought a lot of investment to that community.

Tweed wouldnt speculate on why attack ads or other measures were being taken in the riding, saying, Im away from that now, so I hope the Conservatives maintain the hold, but its a difficult situation right now.

Advance polling has already been completed, and remaining voters will hit the polls on Nov. 25.

Read PMStephen Harper's letter here