Conservative Leader Stephen Harper took an unscheduled trip to Quebec City Monday to fight back against Liberal ads, which say a vote for the Bloc would allow the Conservatives to win the election.

The full-page ads, which are running only in Quebec newspapers, say a Conservative government would kill the Official Languages Act and turn the clock back on abortion issues.

Speaking to reporters in Quebec City, Harper dismissed it all as desperate scare tactics.

"The Liberal ads resurrect every stereotype in Quebec that they're trying to raise in the rest of the country. I'm surprised in Quebec they didn't say I'm for conscription," he remarked.

The Conservative leader said the attack ads won't work because people have lost trust in the party over the $100-million sponsorship scandal.

"What the Liberal Party hasn't clued into in this election is that nobody believes anything they say," Harper said. "So the more they attack us, the less people believe the attacks."

Harper also reiterated his stance on moral issues. He said he has only raised one issue in this election -- that of same-sex marriage.

"I've said that our government will put that to a free vote in the House of Commons. We will fill the legal void by enacting a federal definition of marriage," he said.

"Any other issue will be handled the way it's handled now under the Liberal government, which is backbenchers propose their own things and they are debated through a process that the prime minister has nothing to do with."

Speaking later in the day, Prime Minister Paul Martin warned that a Conservative Government would undermine minority rights.

Harper's recent suggestions a Conservative government might consider invoking the Charter-overriding "notwithstanding clause" with regard to same-sex marriage, Martin said, point to a "fundamental difference" between the two leaders.

"I would not use the notwithstanding clause," the Liberal Leader said.

"And if what you're prepared to do is use the notwithstanding clause, then what you're saying essentially is minority rights can be subjected to the will of majority."

Martin also tried to squash suggestions his won party is divided on the issue of abortion.

"Never, never will I allow the rights of women to be removed by going back to the past," Martin said in French. "I believe that the situation in Canada is a free choice for women. They have to decide for themselves."

Harper has had to go into damage-control mode several times over the June 28 campaign, as his MPs expressed contentious opinions on topics ranging from bilingualism to abortion.

Last week, the party's health critic, Rob Merrifield, said in an interview with The Globe and Mail that mandatory counseling would be "valuable" for women considering aborting their pregnancies.

In the most recent controversial comment, Ottawa-area Conservative MP Cheryl Gallant told CTV News Saturday the "caucus as a whole" wants to repeal Canada's new hate law protecting sexual orientation. She says the inclusion could theoretically protect pedophiles.

The Conservatives are working to promote their image in Quebec, where the Bloc Quebecois is leading in support, followed by the Liberals.

Andre Bachand, the only Tory MP elected in Quebec in the 2000 election, became an Independent after the merger of the two parties. He recently said he is backing the Liberal candidate in his former riding of Richmond-Arthabaska.

However, Harper is confident his party will do well in the province this time.

"We have a good campaign in Quebec," he said. "We have every reason for Quebecers to vote for us.

"Quebecers want a choice that is not corruption or separation. They want a new government for this country."