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Mr. Layton was the main event at an afternoon rally in a downtown bar that drew 650 cheering NDP supporters.

The loudest, most enthusiastic, response came when Mr. Layton said it was time for Canada to leave Afghanistan. The crowd broke into chants of “no more war.”

“I was thrilled today to be in my home city where I grew up and I have had the dream of building a New Democratic movement in Quebec for a very, very long time,” Mr. Layton told reporters after the event

Despite polls that suggest the NDP has no chance of winning the election, Mr. Layton will not say he is running for second place.

“I'm looking forward to the dozen or more ridings that we are going to be visiting over the next couple of days,” he said, “all of which are places where very exciting things are going on.”

NDP Leader Jack Layton made a final pitch Saturday to the people of this city in the province where he and his party have tried so hard to become a serious political contender.

Mr. Layton was pleasantly received when he took a morning stroll through a market just southwest of Montreal's downtown. Butchers yelled their support for him and several people broke through the crowd to shake his hand. One young graduate student urged him to do what he could to allow Green Party Leader Elizabeth May win her seat in Nova Scotia.

The New Democrats appear to have made headway in Quebec since the by-election win of Thomas Mulcair in the Montreal riding of Outremont last year. It's the first seat they have held in Quebec since 1993.

Montrealers awoke to newspaper headlines Saturday suggesting that Mr. Layton's party had the support of 21 per cent of Quebec voters, just two points shy of the Liberals.

The NDP Leader has been to Montreal five times in this campaign, and he paid another five visits to Gatineau, across the river from Ottawa, where the party has what it considers to be star candidates.

“We detect a wonderful rising-up of support in Quebec for the New Democrats and it's because the New Democrats share the values of so many Quebeckers,” Mr. Layton told reporters.

“And I guess it's because I was born not all that far from here and raised here in Montreal that I have a sense that right now people want to move beyond the old debates and Quebeckers want to participate in a movement for change right across the country.”

The Bloc Québécois has had success in establishing itself as the watchdog for Quebeckers in Ottawa – a message that Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe has emphasized over and over again this campaign. It's a role that Mr. Layton said is too limited.

“I think what's exciting about this election is some people are actually beginning to say more and more that we should actually throw Mr. Harper out of office. We shouldn't just watch him in office, which is what the Bloc has been doing and that's all they are ever going to be able to do,” he said.

The Bloc MPs are “good people but we could do better. We can move beyond that. We can actually create a government that reflects the values of Quebeckers and so many Canadians and that's why there's wind in our sails here in Quebec.”

Mr. Layton was the main event at an afternoon rally in a downtown bar that drew 650 cheering NDP supporters.

The loudest, most enthusiastic, response came when Mr. Layton said it was time for Canada to leave Afghanistan. The crowd broke into chants of “no more war.”

“I was thrilled today to be in my home city where I grew up and I have had the dream of building a New Democratic movement in Quebec for a very, very long time,” Mr. Layton told reporters after the event

Despite polls that suggest the NDP has no chance of winning the election, Mr. Layton will not say he is running for second place.

“I'm looking forward to the dozen or more ridings that we are going to be visiting over the next couple of days,” he said, “all of which are places where very exciting things are going on.”

Mr. Layton, who began the election saying he was applying for the job of Prime Minister, said only a victory on election night would satisfy him. But the NDP still trails the Liberals in national public opinion – and is far behind the Conservatives.

“What I'm finding is, this last weekend, guess what table everybody is going to be sitting down at to think about this? The kitchen table. They are making their food together, they are talking about the kitchen table issues,” said Mr. Layton.

The “kitchen table” issues have been a constant theme of his campaign. The NDP Leader has said that is what sets him apart from the other parties.

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion says the global economic crisis could slow implementation of his party's promises if he's elected prime minister on Tuesday.

“We can't trust Mr. Dion and obviously he did not give a lot of thought to his policies,” said Mr. Layton.

The NDP Leader was also asked about expert opinion that contradicts Conservative Leader Stephen Harper's recent testimony that an author altered a taped interview. Mr. Harper has said the tape was altered to unfairly characterize a financial offer to dying MP Chuck Cadman.

“I am not going to wade into items that are before the courts,” Mr. Layton said. “But it certainly is very disturbing to hear this particular news about the analysis of the tape. I think that all Canadians should be concerned about it and I think it just gives us another reason to say we can't have confidence in Mr. Harper to do the right thing.”