TUKTOYAKTUK, N.W.T. – Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who has threatened to call a snap election this fall, predicted again on Wednesday that the next federal campaign will likely produce another minority Parliament.
“My expectation would be that we will have another minority. I think that’s the reality of the current political environment,” the prime minister told reporters here. “I think anyone getting a majority in the current political alignment we have in Canada would be unlikely.”
However, he said an election would give whichever party wins a “fresh mandate” to govern for at least “another couple years.”
“It certainly will give whoever wins that election, hopefully ourselves, that mandate to proceed and to proceed quite aggressively for some period of time.”
Harper’s comments came a day after he announced that Governor General Michaelle Jean won’t travel to China as scheduled to open the Paralympic Games on Sept. 6.
The announcement stoked speculation that Harper will pull the plug on his own government as early as next week, setting up an October vote.
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To do so, the prime minister would have to visit Jean to ask her to dissolve Parliament.
Harper, who argues that Parliament has become “dysfunctional,” has been trying to arrange meetings with the three opposition leaders to gauge their resistance to his government’s agenda. Parliament is scheduled to return on Sept. 15.
On Wednesday, the prime minister softened his rhetoric to some degree, saying he did not want to start campaigning on his Arctic tour. Harper said he is still hoping to meet with his counterparts before deciding to call an election.
“It’s important if possible to verify my analysis with the other opposition leaders. If there’s an election I think it’s important to give all the parties a chance to prepare,” he said in French.
However, he said only NDP Leader Jack Layton had responded “in a positive way” to his invitation to meet, and he reiterated his contention that the positions of the opposition parties have become “increasingly divergent” with those of his government.
Dion has refused to meet with Harper until Sept. 9, the day after three federal byelections in Ontario and Quebec.
It is not the first time Harper has sought to downplay expectations of winning a majority in the next election. Last September, he said in a speech in New York that the possibility of a minority “would loom very high.”
Harper’s advisers say emergence of the Green Party and the ongoing strength of the Bloc Quebecois has fragmented the electorate and made it arithmetically challenging to cobble together a majority.
However, the prime minister’s comments will do little to assuage critics who question whether another election is necessary.
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