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A prominent newspaper columnist warned, however, that federalists shouldn't be too gleeful about a federal government supported by the Bloc.

Michel David described how Jacques Parizeau - the former PQ premier who led the independence forces in the 1995 referendum - envisioned the Bloc's role at the time of its inception.

Parizeau predicted in 1991 that the Bloc would create a chaotic "Italian-style parliament" in Ottawa, a place so dysfunctional that it would help lead to the breakup of Canada.

And, David wrote in Le Devoir, there's another way the turn of events could weaken national unity.

"Even if Mr. Harper is the primary architect of his own misery, the Conservatives' collapse would certainly mean great alienation in the West and the idea that a separatist party has a veto over the country's destiny will certainly not delight everyone in English Canada," David wrote.

"From a sovereigntist's point of view, that's not without its appeal."