Gilles Duceppe is skipping out on his own campaign tour for a few hours tonight to fly to Montreal for an appearance on one of the most-watched television shows in Quebec.

Tout Le Monde En Parle (Everyone's Talking About It) is a talk show which airs every Sunday night on CBC's French-language service, Radio-Canada, but is taped on Thursdays. Duceppe will be among an eclectic lineup of personalities, including singer Dan Bigras, Montreal Canadiens' head coach Guy Carbonneau, and Sister Marie-Paul Ross, a nun who is also a sex therapist.

The show has invited all the main party leaders to make appearances on Sundays during the federal election campaign. But Duceppe says he expects Stephen Harper to decline, as he has done in the past. Duceppe describes Harper as a control freak, who doesn't want to get caught unprepared on the audacious interview show watched by about a million viewers a week.

Duceppe seems to need the exposure more than the other party leaders. A poll conducted by Influence Communication, published in today's La Presse, says the Bloc leader has only occupied 11 per cent of the media coverage of the campaign in Quebec, less than NDP leader Jack Layton, who has enjoyed 17 per cent of the coverage in the province. Stephen Harper leads the way with 36 per cent, followed by Stéphane Dion, at 30 per cent.

— Tim Duboyce