As the federal Liberals closed a three-day caucus in Cape Breton preparing itself for the Sept. 20 return to Parliament, party leader Michael Ignatieff accused the Conservative government of fear mongering.

"That's how (Prime Minister Stephen) Harper governs -- 'let's make you very scared of someone you were never scared of before,"' Ignatieff said at a Wednesday news conference.

"The census-taker (for instance). Let's make you very scared of the coalition. Let's make you scared of pretty well everybody and then you come home to me because you feel safe. That's the strategy, that's the style of the Conservative government.

Federal Liberals hope to gain on this summer's modest momentum by positioning their leader, Ignatieff, as open and available to Canadians, in contrast to a "closed" Harper.

After a slow-starting but successful summer-long, coast-to-coast bus tour, Ignatieff plans to hold weekly "open mike" town hall meetings across Canada.

"I don't want to appeal to fear. I want to appeal to hope and optimism and the sense that . . . there's so much more that we share than what divides us," Ignatieff said.

Liberal strategists are rolling the dice that the unscripted affairs will allow Ignatieff to distinguish himself to Canadians by interacting with real people.

The Grits say this is in stark opposition to Harper, who they say is a scripted, out-of-touch leader who rarely steps out of the tightly controlled messaging system of the Prime Minister's Office.

Meanwhile, the Conservatives sent out a message to their supporters Wednesday, reminding them it's been a year since Ignatieff threatened to topple the government.

"Exactly one year ago today Michael Ignatieff made a bold pronouncement: 'Mr. Harper, your time is up,' " the Tory memo said. "Ignatieff vowed to topple the government and force a federal election on Canadians at first opportunity."

The Tories say Ignatieff is still aggressively pursuing an election Canadians don't want.

But Ignatieff said on Wednesday Canadians want "an alternative" to the current government.

Summer polls show the Liberals have tightened the gap behind the Tories, although they still remain a distinct second.

However, the Liberals see their modest rise in popularity as a sign that a number of Tory decisions, such as cutting the mandatory long-form census, attempting to scrap the long-gun registry and spending $9 billion on new F-35 fighter jets, are not sitting well with Canadians.

"The priorities of this government are prisons and planes. Is this what Canadians want from their government right now in the middle of a $54-billion deficit?" Ignatieff asked Wednesday,

Pollsters generally say most Canadians don't heed much attention to politics in the summer months, and a better indication of any swings in popularity begins in the fall.

With files from The Canadian Press