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Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe, centre, speaks with voters at a campaign stop Saturday, April 2, 2011, in Grondines, Que.Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press

Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe is trying to win back key election turf in the Quebec City area by ripping into an independent incumbent who moonlights as a bus driver.

Mr. Duceppe spent much of Saturday campaigning in the riding of Andre Arthur, accusing the former radio shock jock of making a mockery of the democratic process.

"It's unacceptable," Mr. Duceppe said after a campaign speech in Grondines, Que. "He doesn't represent his constituents. He lives off his constituents."

Mr. Arthur is a controversial figure known for his high absentee rate in the House of Commons. Mr. Duceppe said he missed 44 days over the past year when votes were held.

While serving as an MP, Mr. Arthur moonlighted as a bus driver and recorded commercials for radio.

"He was too busy selling vacuum cleaners and driving buses," Mr. Duceppe said.

Mr. Arthur has said driving a bus helps him keep in touch with real people and real issues.

"When I'm on the road, even when I am with people who aren't from my riding, I have the impression it gives me a grounding in reality," he said last year.

While there are some restrictions for cabinet ministers, members of Parliament are allowed to hold as many outside jobs and own as many companies as they like.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court of Canada spared Mr. Arthur from having to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages for an on-air rant about Haitian and Arab taxi drivers.

A group of Montreal taxi drivers argued unsuccessfully that they had suffered personal injury from the comments Mr. Arthur made in 1998 - comments seven of the high court's nine judges described as racist.

Mr. Arthur, who routinely votes with the Conservative government, was first elected to Portneuf - Jacques-Cartier in 2006 and beat the Bloc candidate by about 600 votes in the last election.

Mr. Duceppe spent much of the day campaigning in Mr. Arthur's riding east of Quebec City as part of a push to regain a foothold in the provincial capital region.

Several seats held by the Conservatives are considered vulnerable after the government decided not to help pay for an NHL-style arena.

The Bloc won 47 of Quebec's 75 seats in 2008.

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