Just a few days left and Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe has officially appeared before the editorial boards of every daily in Quebec's largest chain of French-language newspapers.

This afternoon, Duceppe is spending 45 minutes in a private interview with the board of La Presse, the Montreal-based mothership of the Gesca chain. He has already visited the others, including Le Quotidien in Saguenay, La Tribune in Sherbrooke, Le Soleil in Quebec City, and Le Nouvelliste in Trois-Rivières.

It's a little ironic, as sovereigntists have often complained of the family of papers' editorial slant in favour of national unity.

Gilles Duceppe is, obviously, a sovereigntist.

Gesca is the property of Power Corporation, and the Desmarais family which controls Power are clearly federalist.

Some sovereigntists have gone so far as to suggest a plot by the papers' owners to squelch the sovereignty movement through slanted coverage of news and politics.

One former PQ leader, André Boisclair, even complained about polls which didn't favour his party appearing on the front page of La Presse at critical moments, such as during important party functions, insisting it was more than a coincidence.

— Tim Duboyce