OTTAWA - The dirt is starting to fly on the campaign trail.

With less than two weeks to go before election day, the parties are accusing each other of malicious prank calls, illegal lawn-sign tampering, and even a smear campaign.

NDP candidate Francoise Boivin angrily lashed out at a news report today that suggested she had been turfed by the Liberals in the past for an ethical breach.

Le Devoir newspaper reported that the Liberals dumped her before the 2008 election because she helped her spouse get a Parliament Hill job.

But Boivin insists the person wasn't her partner, just her roommate.

She calls the allegations cheap innuendo spread by Liberal rivals in her Gatineau, Que., riding.

In Brampton, Ont., a Liberal campaign worker has been charged with stealing signs from the local Conservative candidate.

Earlier in the campaign, an Ottawa-area Liberal candidate had $2,000-worth of lawn signs vandalized by someone who spraypainted bullseyes over his head.

And several Liberal candidates in Ontario and Manitoba say residents have been receiving harassing calls at late hours by people claiming to work for the Liberals.