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Harper rallies support in Montreal

Last Updated: Friday, December 9, 2005 | 9:04 AM ET

Stephen Harper made his strongest election appeal yet to Quebec voters on Thursday night, taking a swipe at both the Liberals and the Bloc Québécois during a rally in Montreal.

"The Bloc campaign, my friends, is all fire and brimstone," Harper told the crowd of about 150. "And the Liberal campaign is all smoke and mirrors."

Harper said the BQ was a powerless spectator, sitting in Ottawa as the sponsorship scandal took place in its home base of Quebec.

And the Liberals, he said, are not the party to defend national unity.

"Having tarnished the reputation of federalism in Quebec with their corruption, federal Liberals on national unity? It's like sending a pyromaniac to be a firefighter," he said.

The Conservatives won't use the sovereignty debate to drum up votes in Quebec, said Harper.

"The Liberals and the Bloc are playing the usual games, obsessed about fighting about a referendum, a referendum nobody wants," he said.

Harper said his party won't play that game, but BQ Leader Gilles Duceppe says Harper isn't even being invited to join in.

Duceppe told a local radio show the Conservatives don't offer much competition in Quebec.

"The last four elections, since 1993, have been between the Bloc and the Liberals, just look at the figures," he said.

Despite the sponsorship scandal the Conservatives have a small chance of winning only a few of the 74 ridings in Quebec.

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