Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe took a pleasant walk along the sandy beach just outside Sept-Iles this morning. He was with a waterfront homeowner, Roland Ferguson, who is upset over shoreline erosion along the St. Lawrence River which he says is gradually eating away his property.

After the beachfront stroll in the otherwise idyllic setting, with the rising buttes of the seven islands that are the city's namesake as a back-drop, Duceppe demanded Ottawa provide compensation to people whose land is being etched away by sea tides.

One reporter, suspecting the announcement was more about giving TV crews a pretty setting for a press conference then about serious demands to Ottawa, asked why Duceppe was even bothering to campaign in this riding.

The Bloc has handily won Manicouagan since 1993. However, it faces the threat of losing ridings in other regions to the Conservatives. Duceppe explained it this way:

"I won't be going campaigning in Burnaby-Westminster. I'll be here talking about eroding shorelines instead," he said.

"if I didn't come to the Lower North Shore, people would ask why I didn't go there."

— Tim Duboyce