…Gilles Duceppe is desperately trying to turn this into an election referendum:

Election a federalist-sovereignist battle: Duceppe

Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe appears to be escalating his party’s message amid a dramatic drop in poll numbers, saying the election is not a “left-right” battle, but a “fight between the federalists and the sovereignists.”

Duceppe made the statement in a Twitter post on Saturday.

This follows yesterday’s announcement that Jacques Parizeau will be joining Duceppe on the campaign trail.

There are two obvious problems with this strategy:

1. Duceppe has spent the past decade arguing that federal elections are NOT about sovereignty; and

2.He’s been right.

As the Liberals learned in 2006, Quebecers understand that federal elections aren’t referendums. While I don’t doubt Duceppe will be able to hold on to his core of staunch nationalists, we’re about to find out just how small that core is.