MONTREAL - A partisan war of words between a Conservative senator and a Bloc Quebecois MP has spiralled into an allegation of racism.

Bloc MP Eve-Mary Thai Thi Lac, adopted from Vietnam when she was two years old, took issue with references to her heritage in response to an article she wrote on the relevance of the Senate.

Her critique prompted a Conservative senator, Andree Champagne, to author a reply in which she derided her opponent's lack of loyalty to Canada -- the country that accepted her.

That Tory Senator also referred, in her retort, to her own heritage as an "old-stock" francophone.

"I was flabbergasted," Thai Thi Lac said in a telephone interview Wednesday.

"The comments of Mme. Champagne concerning me are xenophobic and come close to racism. These types of comments are unacceptable coming from a former cabinet minister who is now a senator."

Thai Thi Lac said she and other immigrants have the same right to a political opinion as anyone else -- even if that means they support Quebec independence.

"We have equal rights here for all citizens. It's a right no matter your sex or origin. I would say that Mme. Champagne is saying immigrants are second-class citizens. I condemn that."

Champagne was out of the country on vacation and could not be reached for comment.

The former actress, who served in the Mulroney Tory cabinet, was appointed to the Senate in 2005 by then-prime minister Paul Martin. She represented the St-Hyacinthe, Que., riding now held by Thai Thi Lac.

The Bloc MP threw the first punch in the verbal sparring in an open letter published on her constituency Internet page and in a community newspaper, where she questioned what it is exactly that senators do.

She questioned Champagne's commitment to the protection of French-language rights. She decried Champagne's lack of support for a bill, currently before the Senate, that would require Supreme Court judges to speak both official languages.

The Bloc MP said Champagne had said in an interview that she feared the proposed legislation would exclude otherwise qualified, unilingual judges from sitting on the high court.

The Bloc MP wrote that she was surprised at Champagne's stand because she had built her life working in French. She then asked that Champagne "do your true duty and defend your nation" by supporting the legislation.

Champagne replied with a lengthy open letter of her own to the same St-Hyacinthe community newspaper, where she defended herself.

She referred to the Bloc MP's original comments as "a Christmas gift" and said it had given her a chance to recount the work that she had done in the Senate.

Champagne said her loyalty has never been called into question. She then added the following: "Can you say the same to a country that welcomed you and which you seek to dislocate?"

The senator also took issue with Thai Thi Lac's questioning of Champagne's defence of French and replied: "I am proud to be an old-stock Quebec francophone -- look at my heritage -- proud to be a bilingual Canadian, proud to be part of the Senate and work with all my heart for the betterment of all Quebecers and Canadians."

Thai Thi Lac said Wednesday her goal as a sovereigntist is not to "dislocate" Canada.

"The goal of the sovereigntists is not that, it is to build a country," she said. "We want Quebec to be a country. The difference is huge."

Thai Thi Lac, who has won St-Hyacinthe-Bagot riding twice, said she hopes the voters there demonstrate their feelings about Champagne's comments by re-electing the Bloc in the riding the next federal election.

"The population is more open than the senator," she said.