MONCTON, N.B. - To listen to Conservatives talk behind closed doors, a federal election appears inevitable and imminent.
Even though Prime Minister Stephen Harper's minority government has so far survived two crucial confidence votes in the House of Commons and the Opposition Liberals seem to have no appetite to bring them down, the party's election machinery is revving up instead of idling in neutral.
At a closed-door meeting of the New Brunswick Tories Saturday, campaign organizers were told that the party's Ottawa-based war room was fired up "three weeks ago'' in anticipation of a fall election and remains on high alert.
"We're ready to go for this election,'' an unnamed senior official with the Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe riding association told a gathering Saturday.
The entire session, in a meeting room of a Moncton, N.B. hotel, was inadvertently broadcast to a small group of startled journalists holding a workshop in the next room. Reporters huddled around a speaker, notepads and pens in hand, throughout a presentation and the following question-and-answer session.
Part of the closed-door meeting was streamed live to the Canadian Association of Journalist's blog site.
Party organizers were told they have more than enough money to finance the election. They were asked to limit their queries to the party war room right now because it will not be fully staffed until the government falls.
"We can't give you the names now because they work in government departments,'' said the official. "When the writ is dropped, they take a leave of absence.''
It was clear from the conversation that in the early stage of the campaign the Conservatives intend to play the credibility card, using the Liberals' unwillingness to defeat Harper's minority as the key theme.
''Liberals sit on their butt,'' said the official, referring to the Liberal MPs who abstained in confidence votes on the throne speech and the recent mini-budget.
''We have been running TV ads letting people know that Liberals and NDP say one thing and do another.''
Conservative attack ads, portraying Liberal Leader Stephane Dion as being indecisive and keen to restore the recently announced cut to the GST, debuted this weekend.
A Conservative spokesman in Ottawa refused to say whether ads are being prepared to attack NDP Leader Jack Layton.
In an indication the Conservative campaign will be as centrally managed as the last election, candidates will be able to call upon the war room for even the most minute of details, such as drafting a local press release.
''We have a support team in Ottawa and they're just a phone call away,'' the official said.
The party started showing off its state-of-the-art 1,500 square metre campaign headquarters last May -- a suburban Ottawa building dubbed ''the fear factory'' by the Liberals.
The roar of campaign machinery should be expected, given the current political setting, a senior Conservative said Sunday.
''It's good politics to be ready,'' said Conservative spokesman Ryan Sparrow. ''Two-of-the-three oppositions parties have voted against the government. There are rumours Mr. Dion wants an election. We have to be ready if the opposition force one.''
A political scientist said it's clear the "Liberals will embarass themselves to no end'' in order to avoid an election this fall and all of the posturing by the Conservatives could be a way to keep party workers engaged during a phoney war period.
"The Conservatives have really painted themselves into a corner with the fixed election date legislation,'' said David Johnson, a professor at the University of Cape Breton.
"Harper has promised to respect that. How much of this is just prudent election planning and how much is the Tories begging to be defeated isn't clear.''
Without being defeated in the Commons, the earliest the Conservatives can call an election is fall 2009.
