REGINA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper says a former Conservative staffer under investigation by the RCMP has left his volunteer job in a key electoral battleground.
Harper told a news conference in Regina today that Sebastien Togneri is no longer working for the Conservative campaign in the riding of Edmonton-Strathcona.
The announcement came after The Canadian Press learned Togneri was helping on the campaign of Ryan Hastman, a popular Conservative with ties up to the Prime Minister's Office.
Hastman is trying to wrest away the only riding in Alberta the Conservatives did not win in 2008.
As a senior aide to a cabinet minister in 2009, Togneri demanded that government officials block the release of a document requested by The Canadian Press under Access to Information laws.
Public Works Minister Rona Ambrose called in the Mounties this month to determine if charges should be laid after Canada's information commissioner found Togneri clearly interfered with the request without legal authority to do so.
