Prime Minister Stephen Harper speaks to reporters during a transit funding announcement in Kitchener, Ont., on Thursday. Harper says it's time for the government to start preparing the transition from stimulating the economy to slashing its deficit. (CBC)

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is dismissing a Bloc Québécois MP's assertion that offering free passes to Canada's parks for Grade 8 students across the country is a federalist plot.

When asked Thursday about MP Carole Lavallée's claim, Harper used the question to again raise the spectre of an "opposition coalition" plotting to force an election in the coming parliamentary session.

The prime minister fired a jab at Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff and NDP Leader Jack Layton, saying their parties will have to explain to Canadians "why they want to be a coalition partner with a party that thinks things like national parks are a federalist plot."

In the letter, Harper urges the students — as "future leaders" — to "explore our mountains, our forests, our battlefields, our forts, our campsites and more."

In Thursday's edition of La Presse, Lavallée said it was "propaganda" from the Prime Minister's Office and the government for the federalist cause in Quebec to refer to youth as future leaders of Canada.

Harper said he was not surprised to see the Bloc react this way, since they view everything as a federalist plot.

"I can assure you, it's not a federalist plot, but it is of course another reminder of why we live in such a great country," he told reporters on Thursday while making a transit funding announcement in Kitchener, Ont.

In late 2008, Layton and Ignatieff, as an MP under then Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion, signed onto a proposed Liberal-NDP coalition agreement with the support of the Bloc, in a failed attempt to oust Harper's Conservatives from government.

Ignatieff has since sought to distance himself from coalition talk, saying this week that the Liberal Party is the "coalition of the big red tent" for those feeling alienated by Harper's Conservatives.

The Liberal leader also targeted Layton for allowing his MPs a free vote on a Conservative backbencher's private member's bill to scrap the federal long-gun registry.

Economy, jobs top priorities: PM

Harper also said the government must start preparing for next spring's transition from economic stimulus to deficit reduction, despite "some degree of unease" about the U.S. economy.

He said the economy and jobs remained the government's top priorities for the fall parliamentary session, along with criminal justice reforms and unspecified security measures.

The government is still committed to ending the stimulus program by the end of March 2011 but will continue to keep watch on the global economy, especially south of the border, he said.

"The financial system globally, but especially in Canada, is completely functional," Harper said, after announcing the government's commitment of up to $265 million towards building light-rail and rapid bus service for the Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge area.

"All the signs are that the economic action plan has been effective, but if we want to be effective in the future, the next step will be to get some of our deficits down and make sure that we're providing good incentives to the private sector to continue to move the economy forward."

Some provinces and municipalities have called for an extension of the federal stimulus program to ensure they don't have to abandon infrastructure projects already underway.