QUEBEC CITY — One rubber-chicken luncheon does not make a political party but for Conservatives in Quebec, maybe it was a start.

This fall, hundreds of francophone Conservatives in blue suits revived the Blue Dinner, a Tory tradition that died with the era of former prime minister Brian Mulroney.

A Quebec City restaurant buzzed with excitement during the recent bash, where guests included two retired Tory senators and party leader Stephen Harper.

"It was the type of atmosphere we haven't seen in a long time," said Martial Asselin, who joined fellow retired senator Roch Bolduc and Harper at the table of honour.

"Not since the days of Mr. Mulroney, in fact."

Starting with the Blue Dinner, the Tories have launched a renewed effort this fall to break back into Quebec.

On Monday, the party's upbeat Quebec lieutenant, Josee Verner, will begin a tour of the province to drum up support, bolster local organizers and hunt for strong candidates.

"We must make ourselves known," Verner said in a recent interview with the Canadian Press at the public relations firm where she once worked. The party has no office space in Quebec City.

"We must put down our roots and make our ideas known. People really didn't know us before the election and we still have work to do."

Verner's job is to cast the rosiest light on the party's efforts, but she admits the glory days of the Mulroney era are probably out of reach for the new Conservative party.

Personally popular in the province, Mulroney welcomed Quebec nationalists into the fold and swept to power in 1984 with massive support in the province.

Federalism had received a tentative boost from then-Parti Quebecois premier Rene Levesque, who suggested Quebecers should take a "beau risque" on a constitutional deal with Canada.

The so-called beautiful risk eventually flopped with the death of the Meech Lake Accord in 1990.

The Bloc Quebecois, founded that year, and joined the Liberals as the top federal parties in Quebec following Mulroney's departure.

In last June's election, the Conservatives won none of the 75 seats in the province and won only 8.8 per cent of the popular vote.

Later this month, the Tories will hold a Quebec meeting to help craft policy ideas for the March national convention in Montreal.

Asselin said the party is showing signs of life in Quebec he has not seen in 12 years.

"It's a great start," said Asselin, who also served as a Conservative MP under John Diefenbaker in the 1950s and again in the 1960s.

"It seems like Mr. Harper is serious about piercing Quebec. There are candidates and organizations and policies being put in place. It's not the day before the election that you can start putting the pieces in place and Mr. Harper seems to recognize that."

Harper took time during a recent visit to Montreal to deliver Canadian flags to a Royal Canadian Legion after a Bloc Quebecois MP refused to do so.

The Opposition leader played down any suggestion that the trip was political, even though the flags were distributed in the only riding the former Progressive Conservatives won in the 2000 election.

"It was a great opportunity to come here, shake some hands and do something for Remembrance Day," Harper said on Saturday. "That's how I see it, not has a huge political battle."

But Asselin said Harper still has things to learn about Quebec.

He pointed to the trial balloon Harper floated at the Blue Dinner when he proposed a new federal arrangement that would divide some powers between the two main linguistic groups and give them control over certain institutions.

The mere mention of the word "Belgium" as an example guaranteed the idea would go nowhere in Quebec, Asselin said.

"They maybe made a bit of a mistake on that," he said. "I think they'll take another aim and try again.

"It's not bad to make comparisons but it's not in Quebec that you want to start talking about that. Quebecers very jealously guard their nationality, their autonomy.

"I think it will probably die there. But we need to recognize our differences in the Canadian federation and recognize that Quebec can play an important role."

Other obstacles remain.

Verner admitted the party still carries a redneck image in Quebec from its Canadian Alliance and Reform party influences. The positions of many Conservatives against abortion rights and same-sex marriage have fuelled that view more recently.

"I know we had to fight against that during the election campaign," Verner said.

"If we don't want that image, we must make sure Quebecers are part of the new Conservative party."

Verner, who finished a healthy second to the Bloc with 31 per cent support in her Quebec City riding in June, said the Conservatives cannot govern without a seat in Canada's second-most populous province.

"I have to admit, it can't happen. Quebec is 25 per cent of the population."

But Verner believes her party will win Quebec seats, including her own, in the next election. She refuses to predict how many.

"At the same time, I think we have to rethink how this federation works to create space for everyone who should be heard."