Liberal Leader Stephane Dion said he disagrees with the prime minister's suggestion that Parliament is broken, but he is nevertheless considering forcing a fall federal election.
Dion's comment on Tuesday comes on the heels of Prime Minister Stephen Harper mulling whether to seek a new mandate for his minority government -- building upon speculation surrounding an imminent election.
But the Liberal leader continued to play coy with how seriously he is considering a fall election. During a press conference Tuesday, Dion refused to answer yes or no questions about whether he was ready to pull the plug on the Tory minority government.
"One important factor in my decision will be what the expectations of Canadians are, when they expect an election should be held," Dion said. "I'm listening to Canadians and many Canadians are telling me now more than before, 'We are ready for an election,' and I take that into account."
Harper said it's 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.
He 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."
"We did establish a fixed date for the next election. That said, in this minority Parliament, two of the parties -- the Bloc Quebecois and the NDP -- have indicated for some months now that they want an election immediately," Harper told reporters following a health-care funding announcement in Hamilton, Ont.
"Dion has indicated that the government should be defeated, but he's not sure when he'll do that because he doesn't have good enough polls. I don't think that's a particularly responsible position."
Dion said Harper would be breaking his own fixed election date law if he called voters to the polls before October 2009. But at the same time, he said his party could force a general election before then.
CTV's parliamentary correspondent Graham Richardson told Â鶹´«Ã½net that the brinkmanship between the two leaders is indicating both are thinking of a fall election.
"I think these are very strong signs that we are going in the fall," Richardson said. "Certainly Stephane Dion didn't step back and say, 'Let's think about this,' -- he stepped it up a bit."
Harper said recent polls make it clear the next government will "in all likelihood" be another minority, whether it's formed by the Tories or the Liberals.
Dion said that despite Harper's comment, he intended to win a majority in the next election.
Harper is currently on a three-day visit to Ontario, a key battleground in an upcoming federal election.
His comment comes just days after raising the spectre of a fall election by calling Parliament "dysfunctional."
Dion said if Parliament is dysfunctional, it's the fault of the Conservatives, who have been sabotaging committee business.
"All the Parliament talk is only talk," Dion said. "It has nothing to do with the truth."
The Liberal leader said he expects to meet with the prime minister to discuss the fall Parliamentary session, which is scheduled to resume Sept. 15.
On Sunday, Harper added a fourth byelection in the Toronto riding of Don Valley West on Sept. 22. He has already called three byelections for Sept. 8. The results may give the Tories and Liberals a sense of how they might fare in a general election.
Last week, in a campaign-style speech to about 400 party supporters in New Brunswick, Harper took aim at the Liberal party's carbon tax policy, suggesting the "Green Shift" proposal is really a "green shaft" that will stifle the Canadian economy.
