Prime Minister Stephen Harper is calling on Quebec sovereigntists to stop trying to stir up a political war over the re-enactment of the historic Battle of the Plains of Abraham this summer in Quebec City.

While speaking in Montreal on Friday, Harper said most Canadians have accepted the outcome of the battle 250 years ago in which the British beat the French, putting an end to New France.

Many Quebec sovereigntists, including members of the Bloc Québécois and the Parti-Québécois, consider the battle a humiliating defeat and the start of English domination over French-speaking people in North America.

Harper said the battle was a key moment in Canadian history.

"For the vast majority of Canadians, we're talking about an historic battle," said Harper.

"It is only for the Bloc that it is a current battle that continues because the Bloc is a party that wants to divide the people of Canada. Our government and the vast majority of Canadians and Quebecers want to continue to live in a united country."

The re-enactment, which is being organized by the National Battlefields Commission, will take place over a four-day period in August. The event is expected to draw more than 2,000 history buffs from around the world.

The 1759 showdown between French and English armies, headed respectively by generals Marquis de Montcalm and James Wolfe, was fought outside Quebec City's fortified walls on land now known as the Plains of Abraham.

The battle involved more than 10,000 troops and lasted less than an hour. Wolfe was killed in the fight and Montcalm died of his wounds the next day.

The nationalist groups, Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste and Imperatif francais, are planning a protest on Parliament Hill on Feb. 22.