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Police said the package was addressed to the Conservative Party of Canada and not to a specific person.

The horror was not confined to Ottawa. Ottawa police were consulting with their counterparts in Montreal after they discovered a severed torso in a suitcase. Montreal police sifted through a heap of garbage in the city’s west end to see if they might turn up any missing limbs. Authorities in both cities are trying to determine if there might be a link to the foot mailed to Conservative party headquarters.

By late afternoon, a coroner confirmed the foot found in Ottawa was indeed human remains.

The package was taken from the scene in a yellow bag and escorted by police into a minivan waiting by the curb.

Steve Hodgson, a police sergeant who arrived at 130 Albert Street, just three blocks south of Parliament Hill, said the package was delivered by Canada Post and had been partially opened by a receptionist at the party’s 12th floor headquarters, who then called police.

“It wasn’t opened any further. It was our Hazmat Team that eventually took a look at it.”

A Conservative MP who showed up later at his party’s headquarters was horrified by the discovery.

“It’s just awful,” said Brad Trost, who first learned about the incident from TV. He said it was probably someone’s “sick idea.”

“I don’t think any of us are thinking this necessarily has anything to with politics,” he said.

Mr. Trost showed up for a meeting but was told by police it was best to leave.