Another federal election in Canada?

By Michael J.W. Stickings

According to Prime Minister Harper, and as reported in the Globe, Canadians could be heading to the polls "at any time". This is even "a campaign training weekend for about 2,000 [Conservative] party nominees, MPs and volunteers". And it might very well be a good time for Harper and his minority government to seek that long-desired majority:

There has been much speculation of late about a spring vote, with some suggesting it could be triggered by Monday's budget.

With the Tories making some headway in public opinion polls and the Liberals finding their way under a new leader, some pundits wonder if Mr. Harper will try for a coveted majority by engineering his own defeat – introducing some sort of budget measure that the opposition can't live with.

Harper would no doubt blame the opposition parties, led by the Liberals, for subjecting Canadians to another election -- the last one, the one that brought the Conservatives to power, was held just last January -- but there is little doubt, it seems, that Harper and the Conservatives want an election far more than the Liberals do. If Harper thinks he can secure a majority in a spring election, he'll go for it, whereas the Liberals, I suspect, would prefer to have a bit more time for Stéphane Dion to continue to grow into his position as party leader -- that process, in my view, has been slow and agonizing, and I say that as a Dion supporter.