After a week of election speculation, senior federal Conservatives have told Â鶹´«Ã½ that an election call after Labour Day is "possible."
Pointing to what they believe would be an unproductive House of Commons, Conservative sources pointed to the possibility of dissolving Parliament and not returning for the scheduled fall session due to begin Sept. 15.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been mulling whether to seek a new mandate for his minority government -- and Â鶹´«Ã½ has learned that Tory ministers have cancelled some September plans and have been told to get ready for a possible fall vote.
Earlier this week, Harper said its clear opposition parties don't want to hold out until the fixed vote date of October 2009, and said he will spend the "next few weeks" contemplating whether to call an election.
According to NDP Leader Jack Layton, Harper will have separate meetings with the leaders of the three opposition parties in the next few days to discuss whether Parliament can work effectively when it resumes.
Tory officials told The Canadian Press that Harper will make a decision on calling an election "shortly" after those meetings.
Layton says he'll ask Harper to assemble the Commons as scheduled because the prime minister has a duty to show up there.
Harper has said he will determine whether his minority Tory government can have a productive fall session of Parliament, "or whether or not the government needs a new mandate."
There is precedent for such an early election call -- former Liberal prime minister Jean Chr�tien dissolved parliament to call a snap election in 2000 -- only three years after the Liberals won their second straight majority. A typical mandate for a majority government lasts for four years, but under the constitution a government can go five years before calling an election.
Recent polls have shown the Liberals and Conservatives to be neck-and-neck and Harper has admitted that it looks like the next election will result in another minority government.
Senior Tory sources previously told CTV that they would prefer a general election in October, before the U.S. election. The shorter campaign schedule would favour the Tories -- who are in a better financial situation than the Liberals.
The U.S. election also plays a factor. Many analysts believe that a Barack Obama win would be to the Liberals advantage as Canadian voters may swing ideologically to the left in the 'Obama afterglow.'
The current minority Conservative government has survived for two-and-a-half years, one of the longest serving minority governments in Canadian history.
