MONTREAL — Canada got a ringing endorsement Monday from the unlikeliest of people — lifelong separatist and former Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe.

In a column in Le Journal de Montreal, a QMI Agency newspaper, Duceppe extolled the virtues of the country he tried to break up during his 21 years in politics.

He blasted federal politics in general and Stephen Harper's Conservatives in particular, but Duceppe said Canada Day gives him positive vibes.

"I understand why Canadians celebrate the 1st of July, since Canada is a great country," he wrote. "I always said that we should not push for sovereignty against Canada, but for Quebec."

In 1990, Duceppe became the first person in Canadian history to be elected to Parliament on a separatist platform.

He joined disgruntled former Liberals and Conservatives in the newly formed Bloc Quebecois following the failure of the Meech Lake constitutional deal months earlier.

Duceppe ran the Bloc from 1997 until the party was decimated in the 2011 election.

The 66-year-old wrote that he's impressed with how federal politicians rally around Canada Day even though they disagree on nearly everything else.

"All of the members of these parties sang their national anthem in unison," he wrote. "I admire this sense of unity.

"What's always been Quebec's weakness is the division...on the national question."

Recent polls suggest sovereignty is on the wane in Quebec while Canadian identity is growing, especially among young people.