OTTAWA — His party may only run candidates in Quebec but Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe will be hitting the road across Canada and across Europe this year to sell his party’s sovereignist message.

Unveiling its 2010 action plan Wednesday, the Bloc said over the coming year it will also work to convince Quebecers that they are better in a sovereign Quebec because a constitutional offer that meets Quebec’s needs will never come.

“Those who think that none of this affects the daily life of Quebecers are seriously mistaken,” Bloc vice-president Vivian Barbot said in a statement.

“The effects are very concrete. Talk to all the workers, to all the unemployed who have been abandoned by Ottawa.”

The Bloc Quebecois will seize on the 20th anniversary of the failure of the Meech Lake Accord in June to boost support for the sovereignist party founded in the wake of Meech Lake.

This weekend, the Bloc will begin marking the landmark year with a general council meeting in Quebec City.

In April, Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe will take the uncommon step of touring Canada to explain why many Quebecers believe Quebec doesn’t have a future in Canada. In the fall, he will take the even more unusual step of touring Europe to talk to members of the European Union about the sovereignist movement’s objectives.

elizabeth.thompson@sunmedia.ca