Canada Premier Likely To Call National Elections
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OTTAWA — Prime Minister Harper of Canada will likely call national elections after failing to find common ground with rival parties for the agenda of the next session of Parliament, the opposition Liberal Leader, Stephane Dion, said.
“He wants an election,” Mr. Dion, who heads the country’s largest opposition party, told reporters after meeting with Mr. Harper yesterday in Ottawa.
The meeting was the last with the legislature’s three opposition leaders, as Mr. Harper seeks to determine whether he can find consensus for the government’s agenda. He’s threatened to call an election unless he finds agreement.
Mr. Harper already had met with the New Democratic Party Leader, Jack Layton, and Bloc Quebecois Leader, Gilles Duceppe. Mr. Harper’s minority government is 27 seats short of a majority and relies on support from opposition parties to pass laws and stay in office.
The prime minister may issue a call for elections between September 2 and September 7, meaning voting might take place on October 14, one of Mr. Harper’s aides said Friday, on condition he not be identified.
A spokesman for Mr. Harper, Kory Teneycke, said today’s meeting found “little common ground” and that the government would decide in coming days whether to call an election.
