No one likes to be the butt of a joke, but on April Fool's Day, Yukon MP Larry Bagnell turned the tables on his pranksters.

On April 1, colleagues within the Liberal party barraged the MP with e-mails congratulating him on his wife's pregnancy.

The politicians thought it would be a funny prank, given Bagnell's age (58) and the unlikelihood of entering fatherhood.

Bagnell had married Yukoner Melissa Craig last July, and the couple had in fact been keeping the newly-discovered pregnancy a tight secret.

"I received the first e-mail and wondered, 'how did they find out?'

We hadn't planned on telling anyone for about a month," he told the Star this morning.

Bagnell had realized it was a practical joke, and on April 2, pretended to be razzed by the e-mails at a party meeting.

He then announced to his fellow party members that while they played a great prank, the joke was on them - he and his wife are indeed expecting a baby, due sometime this November.

Bagnell said he spent the next few days madly making phone calls to family members and friends to break the news before they found out through the grapevine.

Bagnell came home over the weekend and did much of the same, he said: Calling friends and relatives with the good news.

Craig is estimated to be seven weeks pregnant, said Bagnell.

It will be a first child for both.