Canadian PM Calls Snap Elections

OTTAWA - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper Sunday announced parliamentary elections, after warning for weeks that elections were inevitable to break a deadlock with opposition parties on several key issues.

The third general election in just over four years is expected to take place October 14, after Canada's governor-general announced the dissolution of the parliament.

"Between now and October 14th, Canadians will choose a government to look out for their interest in a time of global economic trouble," Harper said.

"They will choose between clear direction or uncertainty, between common sense or risky experiments, between steadiness or recklessness."

Harper, who has headed the Conservative minority government since January 2006, making it the longest minority government in the country's history, has insisted in recent weeks that new elections will be necessary to deal with the spectre of possible recession, as the manufacturing sectors in the most populous provinces, Ontario and Quebec, suffer a direct hit from the global economic slowdown.

Harper used the announcement Sunday to lash out at his opponents, saying their criticism of his government "masks unclear and risky agendas."

"This government will continue to lead Canada by keeping taxes down and keeping the budget in surplus and limiting spending to clear and affordable objectives. The opposition insists on large-scale spending and a new tax," he said.

Surveys ahead of Sunday's announcement showed that Harper, elected to head a minority government on January 23, 2006, has a strong possibility of being returned to power.

His Conservative Party has 127 deputies out of 308 total seats in the House of Commons. They need another 28 seats to gain an absolute majority.

Earlier this week, Gilles Duceppe of the independent Bloc Quebecois warned that the Conservatives were indeed close to a majority that would allow them to govern outright.

"Mr Harper wants a majority government and he is not kidding. A majority is within reach," Duceppe said as he stressed that his bloc was best-positioned to stop the Conservatives.

But he accused Harper of "violating his own law," referring to a legislation introduced by the prime minister and adopted by parliament which requires a fixed date for elections.

Stephane Dion, the leader of the main opposition Liberal Party, also offered a cynical take on Harper's call for snap elections: "He does not want Canadians to have the time to notice that he is ill-prepared to cope with the economic situation."

In the runup to Sunday's announcement, Conservatives homed in on their primary target among Liberal programmes: a carbon tax aimed at reducing greenhouse gases which is claimed to be "fiscally neutral" but which conservatives have slammed as an ill-conceived plan that could put the entire Canadian economy at risk.

A poll conducted in early September had Dion placing third in the premier stakes with 20 percent, far behind Harper, who was judged the most fit for the job according to 50 per cent of respondents.