Prime Minister Stephen Harper addressed a crowd of supporters in Quebec Tuesday in a speech seen as a bid to woo voters ahead of the next federal election.
"On June the 24th, it is always fitting for me to remind the entire country that the first people to call themselves Canadians were the settlers who built their first communities on the banks of the St. Lawrence," Harper said during a barbecue to celebrate Fete Nationale.
The prime minister spoke in Greenfield Park, in the south shore suburb of Longueuil, as Quebecers marked the provincial holiday also known as St-Jean-Baptiste Day.
Harper appealed to Quebec voters as two ridings in the province, Saint-Lambert and Westmount-Ville Marie, are expected to have byelections this summer.
The prime minister appealed to voters by touting his government's move last year to push a resolution through Parliament that recognized Quebec as a nation.
"One of the proudest moments since I've become prime minister is when we recognized that reality," said Harper.
He also said the Tories are the "true nationalists" and that he wants Quebec to be able to "fully express" its personality while still a part of Canada.
To achieve that, Harper said his government is committed to practising "a federalism of openness that respects all of the provinces and the regional principles of Confederation."
"It was a very political speech, certainly taking the opportunity to try to pitch the Conservative Party to Quebec voters," CTV Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife said Tuesday.
"Clearly, he is trying to pitch himself to more nationalist elements in Quebec."
The Tories boosted their support in Quebec in the last election but recent polls show Quebecers may be wary of the Conservative Party's stance on the environment and Afghanistan.
Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe predicted that Quebec voters will want more from the Conservatives than declarations of nationhood, The Canadian Press reported.
"It's all well and good to make declarations, but it takes concrete action for it to have any meaning," Duceppe said.
Liberal Leader Stephane Dion, who attended an afternoon picnic as well as a reception hosted by Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay, made his own appeal to voters by promising $15 billion in tax cuts to offset his party's planned carbon tax.
"We will give tax cuts back to people, especially middle- and low-income Canadians, to help our population to adapt to the world where climate change will be an issue," Dion told CTV Montreal's Annie DeMelt.
Federal Transport Minister and Conservative Quebec lieutenant Lawrence Cannon said the Bloc's failure to make headway in Ottawa will lead Quebec voters back to the Conservatives.
This is the 40th anniversary of the famous St-Jean-Baptiste Day riot that took place on the eve of the 1968 federal election.
Rioters threw projectiles in the direction of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who stayed in the stands while other officials fled. More than 125 people were injured and 290 people were arrested, and Trudeau won a majority government the next day.
With files from The Canadian Press
