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Launching his federal election campaign in Quebec City, Conservative leader Stephen Harper appealed to Quebeckers to abandon the Bloc because it cannot deliver spending goodies for the province.
Quebec is shaping up to be a major battleground for the Tories, with polls suggesting their support is tied, or just slightly behind the once-mighty Bloc Québécois.
"The Bloc is not a choice for Quebeckers for one simple reason: the Bloc will always be in opposition and will always come home to Quebeckers empty handed," Mr. Harper told a packed crowd in a small Quebec City hotel ballroom.
In a display of humility, Mr. Harper said that each day he's trying to improve his French because he thinks a Canadian prime minister should able to speak the language to do their job. The statement drew great applause from the audience, which included members of the provincial Liberal and Action démocratique du Québec parties.
Stephen Harper talks to the media on the first leg of his campaign tour. (Steven Chase/The Globe and Mail)
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- Full text: Campaign-opening statement by Stephen Harper
- Full text: Campaign-opening statement by Stéphane Dion
- Full text (French): Campaign-opening statement by Gilles Duceppe
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He reminded Quebeckers that it was the Tories who recognized the Québécois nation in Parliament — a symbolic gesture that was well received by the province — and also funnelled billions of dollars more to Quebec to correct what he called a "fiscal imbalance" with Ottawa.
Mr. Harper said after 18 years of fighting for Quebec sovereignty, the Bloc is no closer to its goal then when it began.
The Conservatives, who hold 11 out of Quebec's 75 federal ridings, are attempting to rebuild the Brian Mulroney-era coalition in the province. This 1980s alliance brought together small-c conservative Quebec nationalists and right-wing federalists to help win a majority government in Ottawa.
Tory organizers say they are targeting 26 ridings outside the greater Montreal region this election, a sprawling area that spans the province from Pontiac in the west to the Gaspé in the northeast and from the Saguenay in the north to the Eastern Townships.
Conservatives are betting they could win four additional seats in and around Quebec City and as may as a dozen throughout the province.
Mr. Harper disparaged Liberal rival Stéphane Dion who wants to strengthen federal powers to Quebec's disadvantage and increase spending — in contrast to the Tories' support for provincial power which the Conservative leader calls "open federalism."
The Liberal Party, he said, "wants to raise your taxes, go back to the times of centralizing federalism and revive federal-provincial bickering."
He also laughed off NDP Leader Jack Layton's portrayal of himself as a candidate for prime minister, calling it "improbable" to much guffaws and clapping. The NDP has never come close to winning enough seats to form a government in its history.
The hotel where Mr. Harper spoke was in the federal riding of Quebec, currently held by the Bloc. Tory candidate Myriam Taschereau is the great granddaughter of former Quebec Liberal premier Louis-Alexandre Taschereau.
