A retired RCMP officer working on election security in Haiti was killed in an ambush Tuesday. Mark Bourque died while driving through the country's capital, Port-au-Prince, after shots were fired into his car.

Bourque, 57, was driving with a colleague near Cite Soleil, a violent slum just on the outskirts of the capital. A group of Haitians shot at the car and Bourque was fatally wounded in the leg.

His colleague was not injured, Bourque's supervisor Jean Lafaille said. He added that the incident happened without warning, and appeared to be unrelated to their work.

"It shouldn't have happened," Lafaille said. "They were involved only because they happened to pass there. They weren't involved in the police operation or anything like that."

He added that Bourque was due to go home on Wednesday to spend Christmas with his wife and two children.

Bourque lived in Stoneham, Que. and retired in 2002.

Former RCMP chief superintendent Ben Soave worked with Bourque in the early 1980s, and said he was a tenacious investigator. Together they built a case against the Contrera-Caruana criminal organization for money laundering. CTV's W-FIVE once interviewed Bourque about his efforts.

"He was a very committed individual and I can say he was a pioneer in terms of investigating major organized crime for money laundering," Soave said.

Gaston Desormeaux, president of the Montreal RCMP Veterans' Association, learned of Bourque's death Tuesday during the funeral in Laval of another slain police officer, Valerie Gignac.

Desormeaux knew Bourque for about 20 years and said he was an excellent officer.

"I know that Mark was a very hard worker," he said. "He never quit. He always wanted to get to the end of an investigation, no matter what the cost. He wanted to catch as many criminals as he could."

Prime Minister Paul Martin issued a statement offering his condolences and condemning the attack.

"Mr. Bourque was in Haiti as part of Canada's efforts to promote good governance and democracy, and his work there exemplified to the world the finest of Canada's values," Martin said.

"Canada condemns this senseless act of violence. We are profoundly saddened by the loss of a fellow Canadian who served his country with distinction both at home and abroad. He died while serving his country, and he will be greatly missed by all those whose lives he touched and helped make better."

Election trouble in Haiti

Following a request from the United Nations Mission in Haiti for extra police help during the upcoming election period, Canada sent 25 recently retired officers in October. The Canadians act as Police Technical Advisors to the Haitian National Police (HNP) and serve as a link between the HNP and UN forces.

They will also act as emergency response help during the election.

Many of the officers have served in Haiti before, and almost all have been on international missions, according to CANADEM, Canada's Civilian Reserve, which is overseeing the Canadians officers.

They joined 100 Canadian regular police officers working with the UN, and are expected to be there for a total of five months.

Haiti has struggled to organize a presidential election because of rampant violence and an unstable infrastructure. The country's constitution requires a new government to take power by Feb. 7, but the organizational difficulties have pushed the election date back four times in five months.

The first round of parliamentary elections is currently scheduled for Jan. 8, 2006, with a runoff to follow on Feb 15. and local elections on March 5.

Haiti is currently being governed by an interim set of legislators chosen by the international community and headed by Interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue.

Former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted in Feb. 2004.

Violence is most common in the poor, urban neighbourhoods of Port-au-Prince, where members of Arisitide's Fanmi Lavalas party report being targeted with assassination attempts.

Aristide has insisted he was overthrown by emissaries of the United States, while former US secretary of state Colin Powell has said Aristide left voluntarily.