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MONTREAL — If there’s anything Quebecers uniformly loathe, it’s the sight of orange traffic cones heralding road construction.

But when Conservative Leader Stephen Harper cracked a joke at a rally in Quebec City this week about getting those cones back in the garage, he wasn’t talking about his infrastructure funding.

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He was going after his party’s main foe in the province — the New Democrats.

While that party may have swept the province in 2011, be prepared for something different this time around, Harper said at an energetic event Wednesday night with about 650 local supporters.

“If you hold your enthusiasm, your determination, in 19 days we will have a nice surprise in Quebec,” he said.

“The wind is turning in Quebec.”

Wednesday’s rally was the fifth time Harper has been in the province, according to a tally of his travel schedule by The Canadian Press.

He’s likely to return again in the final days of the campaign but his final chance to address voters en masse is the Friday night French language leaders’ debate. The Conservatives’ goal mirrors the previous four debates: position Harper as the best leader for the country.