nomination without opposition. His campaign office was vandalized during the election period, and messages such as "Don't vote 4 bigots or homophobes like the Alliance" were scrawled on the windows in black marker. Rattai argued that the Alliance stood for tolerance, and said that the messages were unfair. Following the campaign, he charged that some of his brochures had been altered without his knowledge to portray him as a neo-Nazi. Winnipeg police launched a hate crimes investigation into the manner. He received 8,336 votes (25.44%), finishing second against New Democratic Party incumbent Bill Blaikie. Rattai acknowledged that he had little chance of winning the election, and was quoted as saying, "Our attitude was, 'Let's go in and have some fun.' We're not here to beat on Bill Blaikie. I respect Bill Blaikie." He served on the Alliance's governing council after the election. In early 2001, he criticized former Reform Party leader Preston Manning for allegedly undermining Alliance leader Stockwell Day. After being appointed chairman of the Alliance fund later in the year, Rattai introduced significant internal spending cuts to target the party's debt. by-election candidates Denis Simard (St. Boniface, by-election, 13 May 2002) Simard was born, raised and educated in St. Boniface, Winnipeg, Manitoba. At the time of his candidacies, he worked as a diesel mechanic in that city. He joined the Reform Party in 1991, and remained with the party until it joined the Canadian Alliance in 2000 (Winnipeg Free Press, 25 May 1997). He campaigned for the Reform Party in St. Boniface in the 1997 federal election, and finished third against Liberal Ron Duhamel with 6,658 votes. Simard was the Manitoba organizer for Tom Long's bid to lead the Canadian Alliance in 2000. When Long was eliminated from the contest after the first ballot, he turned his support to the eventual winner, Stockwell Day (Regina Leader Post, 28 June 2000). Simard sought the Canadian Alliance nomination for Provencher in the 2000 federal election, but finished fourth against Vic Toews (Winnipeg Free Press, 31 October 2000). Simard received 4,497 votes (21.73%) in the 2002 by-election, finishing second against his distant cousin, Liberal candidate Raymond Simard. A different Denis Simard campaigned for the Reform Party in a 1996 by-election in Lac-Saint-Jean, while a third Denis Simard has campaigned for the Parti Québécois. References Canadian Alliance candidates for the Canadian House of Commons Candidates in the 2000 Canadian federal election