QUEBEC - Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe believes there is a chance a federal election could be called within a month over the Conservatives' aid package for hard-hit economic sectors.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced last week his government would spend $1 billion to help vulnerable communities and laid-off workers in sectors such as manufacturing, forestry and fishing.
The federal Liberals, the NDP and the Bloc have all panned the initiative as insufficient and could topple the government if there were a Commons vote on the issue and they all rejected it.
The Conservatives have 125 of the 308 seats in the Commons, compared with 96 for the Liberals, 49 for the Bloc and 30 for the NDP. There are four Independents and four vacant seats.
"We're getting ready,'' Duceppe said in Quebec City on Tuesday. "We must be responsible. An election campaign that begins in mid-February is a possibility. We will be ready.''
Harper has said the $1-billion aid package will be available only if his Conservatives can get their budget passed in the Commons.
NDP Leader Jack Layton said Tuesday he is not optimistic the budget will work for the averaging working family "and that's our litmus test.''
"We can't vote for it if we have a budget that doesn't correct the difficulties of the middle class..the workers who today are having more and more difficulty making ends meet every week and every month.''
Layton reiterated he would like to see the federal aid package voted on separately from the budget.
And the NDP leader said an election being called next month depends on Duceppe and Liberal Leader Stephane Dion.
"Mr Duceppe in the past has talked this way, but then has supported Mr. Harper's budgets, even though they were inadequate and took the country in the wrong direction.''
The NDP leader noted that Dion has been supporting the Conservatives and keeping them in power "either by not voting at all or being absent from the Commons on financial matters.''
"So it's a question of whether they're going to muster the resolve to actually challenge Mr. Harper for doing the wrong thing for the economy.''
Dion said recently his party doesn't intend to try to introduce a confidence vote before the budget in February or March.
And Dion has refused as of late to speculate on whether the Liberals will bring down the government over the budget, saying he'll wait to evaluate its contents.
Duceppe, meanwhile, again dismissed the $1 billion as insufficient and called on the Tories to free up $4.5 billion in all -- $2 billion for the manufacturing sector, $1 billion for the forestry industry and $1.5 billion to help retrain workers.
Duceppe would like to see Quebec get $1.265 billion of the $4.5 billion.
Premier Jean Charest said last week that Quebec's share of the $1 billion would amount to about $220 million.
