Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe stuck with a long-standing practice for politicians in Quebec when he attended an afternoon corn and hot dog roast at a popular bar in Montreal's Gay Village.

Still, he was a little careful about what he was seen munching on in public.

Quebec politicians generally avoid eating hot dogs at public events where news crews are present because of an incident in the early-1970s, when then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau publicly ridiculed his Quebec counterpart, Robert Bourassa, as a "hot dog eater."

Trudeau was trying to brand Bourassa as lacking class because of his refusal to meet publicly at the time with a visiting Queen Elizabeth.

Bourassa had just been immortalized by a newspaper photographer munching on a foot-long hot dog and rare has been the politician since daring to eat even one of Quebec's famous steamed hot dogs within camera range.

As for Duceppe, he simply sipped a cup of black coffee while he chatted with supporters.

—Tim Duboyce