MONTREAL - NDP Leader Jack Layton doesn't want Prime Minister Stephen Harper to dissolve Parliament and call an election before MPs return to work in three weeks.
The prime minister has suggested he may have to take matters into his own hands, complaining the Commons has been dysfunctional and nothing is getting done.
Layton says Harper will have separate meetings with himself, Liberal Leader Stephane Dion and Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe in the next few days to discuss whether Parliament can work effectively when it resumes Sept. 15.
Layton says he'll ask Harper to convene the Commons as scheduled because the prime minister has a duty to show up there.
The NDP leader says Harper would be showing contempt for democratic institutions if he pulled the plug on Parliament without letting MPs come back to their seats.
Speaking with reporters in Montreal, the NDP leader also said he's ready to go into a federal election.
