Amina Chaffai, an adviser to Labour Minister Julie Boulet, mocked the PQ's socialist and nationalist leanings on Twitter.

Chaffai made reference to the full name of Hitler's Nazi party - the National-Socialist German Workers' Party.

"The #PQ is a nationalist and socialist party," Chaffai wrote on the weekend. "Adolf Hitler's party used the national-socialist name."

Premier Jean Charest did not comment but Chaffai quickly retracted the tweet, and even seemed to dissociate herself from having every written the remark.

"These words were not mine," Chaffai tweeted. "(They) do not reflect any opinion I have ever held. I apologize if they shocked people."

The retraction was not enough for PQ candidate Pierre Duchesne, who demanded Charest make an official apology.

"Making parallels between the PQ and Nazism is frankly unacceptable," he said. "We've always been a great democratic party concerned for respect among people "¦ this is especially insulting to all victims of Nazism."

The Liberals and the PQ are locked in a tight race. Quebecers will go to the polls on Sept. 4.