By ALTHIA RAJ, NATIONAL BUREAU
Last Updated: 27th March 2009, 1:54am
A Liberal senator who was flooded with thousands of e-mails from anti-seal hunt protesters is threatening to refer one woman's bombardment to the RCMP.
Yoine Goldstein, a senator from Quebec who is set to retire in two months, said he received so many e-mails they crashed his BlackBerry.
He's not the only one. Senators report receiving 6,000 to 80,000 e-mails from people protesting the seal hunt.
But Goldstein may be the only senator who has threatened to call the cops on a letter writer for jamming his inbox.
"I have asked you politely to remove me from your list. You have ignored my polite request. Would you prefer that I ask the RCMP to deal with it?," he wrote to Louise McGannon, a resident of South Dakota.
McGannon said she was "frightened" when she received his response. "I was really scared. He threatened me with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police," she said.
She fears the Mounties will come after her and hasn't sent any e-mails since receiving Goldstein's response.
'VERY CRUEL'
She admits she isn't sure how Canada's system works -- she has been e-mailing every senator for the past two years, but has not contacted any MPs.
"I'm just an individual who thinks this is very, very cruel and would love to see it end. It makes me sick to my stomach," she said.
Goldstein said he made the RCMP comment after receiving 30 e-mails from the same person in three days.
"I was outraged," he said.
Goldstein, who has a bill in the Senate to get rid of spam, thinks people should be able to communicate with parliamentarians, but not like this.
"I felt I was being personally abused," he said.
Newfoundland Sen. George Baker said he has received at least 25,000 e-mails. He said he doesn't read them.
"Do you think I'm crazy? They are deleted with a click of a button," he said.
Liberal Sen. Celine Herveux-Payette, a defender of the hunt, described the e-mail campaign as "intimidation."
"Do you think parliamentarians will make decisions according to the number of e-mails?" she said.
The Senate recently refused a proposal by Liberal appointee Mac Harb to hold a debate on how the seal hunt affects Canada's reputation abroad. Undeterred, he continues to table daily petitions.
And as far as the RCMP comment? Not appropriate, said Harb.
"Senators should receive all the mail."
ALTHIA.RAJ@SUNMEDIA.CA
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