Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe says even federalist voters who want to prevent Stephen Harper from winning a majority government ought to vote for the Bloc.

"Anyone who believes in an open society, and not a narrow, ideological viewpoint, have an interest, if they don't wish to live in that kind of society, to vote for the Bloc," Duceppe said in French to reporters.

Duceppe denies his appeal is a signal that the Bloc is growing soft on sovereignty.

"I don't hide that I am sovereigntist, and that the best thing for Quebec would be to become a country," he said.

Duceppe says Quebec independence would be settled by another provincial referendum.

He says he's heard Conservative MPs urging sovereigntists to vote for their party, and says the reverse stands true for the Bloc.

—Tim Duboyce