TROIS-RIVIERES, Que. - There is some grumbling in semi-rural Quebec about the new local MP — and not just because she lives 300 kilometres away, didn't visit the riding to campaign, can't speak much French and spent part of the election vacationing in Las Vegas.
The latest grumbling is about Ruth Ellen Brosseau's nomination papers. Her opponents suggest they may have been falsified and say the riding results should be nullified if that is the case.
A man in the Berthier-Maskinonge riding says he was stunned to see his name and address listed on the papers filed by the NDP campaign, when he doesn't recall giving his support.
The name of Rene Young's wife, Lise Leblanc, is there too, except her name is misspelled and the signature was clearly forged, he added.
"Lise Leblanc is written there — but Leblanc without a C," Young said Wednesday in his living room in Trois-Rivieres, at the eastern end of the riding.
"I don't think an adult would make a mistake in her name."
Some NDPers are expressing frustration that one candidate is distracting from the dozens of quality MPs elected in Quebec — many of them holding impressive academic and professional backgrounds.
But Brosseau has become a poster child for critics who say the party was not prepared for the serious role it is about to play in Quebec, and in Canada's Parliament.
The front page of one tabloid Wednesday carried a photo of the Las Vegas strip, a picture of Brosseau and the headline: Still Invisible. The NDP insists she isn't ready to make a public appearance just yet.
The NDP has dismissed allegations of irregularities and maintains the signatures were collected normally, by volunteers going door to door and working local gathering spots.
Young said the name and signature on the list looks like his own, but he believes it might have been forged or that he might have signed the paper, thinking it was a petition.
He said he was told by a reporter that names of some of his neighbours were also listed, even though they allegedly never signed the form.
"For me, I already didn't think very highly of politics," said the 69-year-old retired high school teacher.
"It lacks transparency and I'm very disappointed."
Brosseau won the riding by a crushing margin, despite her absence from the hustings. Now one local voter who supported the NDP is having buyer's remorse.
Ghislaine Tessier said she voted NDP because she likes leader Jack Layton, not because of the local candidate. She also says Brosseau could always learn French.
It's the fact her new MP has never been to the riding that, Tessier said, really annoys her.
"We elected someone who's not even present and who didn't campaign at all — there's a problem," said Tessier, a teacher.
Asked about allegations that the signature of one of her neighbours might have been falsified — she lives across the street from Young — Tessier said: "It's not getting off on the right foot."
Her friend, Marcel Pratte, said a byelection should be called immediately if the signatures were indeed falsified.
Pratte, who voted for the Bloc, described Brosseau's mid-campaign vacation and continued absence from the region as a "total lack of respect" for voters in his riding.
"What she's done is like a slap in the face," said the retired air-traffic controller from nearby St-Leon-le-Grand. "(It's) like we're nothing to them.
"We will never forget that. Never."
But others in the riding, like the president of the business revitalization committee in the town of Louiseville, want to give her chance.
Jean-Guy Otis said she just has to show up first.
"We elected a ghost," said Otis, co-owner of a beauty salon on the town's main drag.
"It's not the fact that she might be anglophone, francophone or Japanese — what's important is that we haven't seen her."
Otis said he personally made unsuccessful attempts to contact the candidate during the campaign, as did the local provincial politician and mayor.
He said he would be happy to welcome her into town if she showed up tomorrow, so they could talk business.
The curious case of Brosseau has been buzzing in the region for days.
"Have you found the anglophone candidate yet?" cracked a barista to a customer Wednesday at a coffee shop in the heart of Louiseville.
The regional radio station, 103.1FM, said callers have wondered how Brosseau got elected, its director said.
Jonathan Gariepy said citizens who didn't vote NDP have blasted the candidate, while others say they think she could still turn out to be a good MP.
"We're trying to give everyone a chance to speak, but unfortunately Ms. Brosseau cannot be reached," he said.
The NDP has defended its candidate, who works as an assistant pub manager in Ottawa.
"If someone doesn't remember giving a signature — which appears to be the case here — that's far from what people are alleging,'' said Layton spokesman Karl Belanger.
''I believe this is a case of someone forgetting. It happens.
"We're very happy, very proud. Madame Brousseau... Madame Brosseau, is proud of this accomplishment."
Other NDP members are chafing at the volume of attention and ridicule directed Brosseau's way.
They note that the party has elected academics, a well-known diplomat, public servants, labour officials and an aboriginal leader — all of whom have replaced the Bloc Quebecois.
"Our victory in Quebec bothered a lot of people," said Marc-Andre Morin, the new MP for Laurentides-Labelle.
"As I watched the election results Monday night, I said to myself, 'We're going to be put underneath the microscope.' They will scrutinize each candidate to try to find something negative.
"I think we have to be psychologically prepared for that."
But Brosseau's opponents say rules are rules — and they're ready to have them enforced.
The president of the local Liberal riding association says he will complain to Elections Canada.
The Conservative party's national office says its local candidate is demanding a byelection. The governing party says the accusation is serious and that it trusts Elections Canada to make the right call in determining whether there was improper activity.
What will the Liberals do if the nomination papers are proven to have been falsified?
"A request to reject the ballots,'' said Louis-Victor Sylvestre, the Liberal riding-association president in Berthier-Maskinonge.
''So we'd start again at zero (in another election). There would be no more MP."
Guy Andre, the longtime Bloc incumbent she defeated Monday, said he has begun his own work validating the names and signatures on the nomination list.
"We're studying this at the moment," said Andre, who was busy filling boxes Wednesday as he prepared to vacate the riding headquarters he's occupied since 2004.
"Once we're done this process, we'll make a statement about it."
(With files from Karine Fortin in Montreal)
Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version attributed quotes to Ghislaine Tessier when they were actually made by her friend Marcel Pratte