Gilles Duceppe's campaign day is being overshadowed by a war of words between two once-prominent figures in the Quebec sovereignty movement.

This morning an open letter in the province's largest French daily newspaper, La Presse, compares the Bloc Quebecois with the NDP, and suggests the BQ is an old "war horse" which has worn out its welcome.

Problem is, the letter was penned by Jacques Brassard, a once highly-infleuntial sovereigntist who sat around the cabinet tables of former PQ premier Lucien Bouchard.

Enter Jacques Leonard, another former PQ cabinet minister, who is now president of the Bloc.

After Brassard's open letter rattled the Bloc campaign this morning, sending leader Gilles Duceppe into damage control mode, Leonard issued a letter of his own to his old cabinet colleague.

The letter, written in informal, personal French, chastizes Brassard for suggesting the Bloc is no longer an effective defender of Quebec interests. Leonard ends the note by underscoring the Bloc's stark differences with the NDP, especially on language issues. The BQ president signs off, "Old war horse? My eye!"

— Tim Duboyce