What is another week without another election speculation post. As is pretty clear by now the Conservatives would prefer to have a fall election. How well they can pull this off relies in part on the NDP. With this information from the Hill Times it looks like if the Conservatives want the help of the NDP then they will have to wait for a Jan/Feb election.
..."We felt that the situation in the fall was going to be so fluid, we don't know what the country's reaction is going to be in the initial response to Gomery so an overall decision was made that we would treat it as a fluid situation and act accordingly," said Mr. Comartin (Windsor-Tecumseh, Ont.) in an interview with The Hill Times, adding that the NDP could also support the governing Liberals on certain issues and bills. Mr. Comartin said that depending on the content of the Gomery report and the fact that the Liberals are planning to reintroduce corporate tax cuts, the federal NDP may decide to vote against the government. But Mr. Comartin said the NDP will make a final decision on how to proceed only once the first Gomery report is made public and if the Liberals decide to introduce legislation to reinstate corporate tax cuts. The national NDP caucus wrapped up its two-day caucus meeting in Toronto on Sept. 13. The 19 NDP MPs discussed House strategy, election readiness and election strategy. NDP Leader Jack Layton (Toronto-Danforth, Ont.) said unlike the last Parliamentary session, his party would be ready to try to bring down the government. He specifically pointed out that if the Liberals tried to reintroduce the corporate tax cuts that it scrapped in May, the NDP will vote against it. "That would be a confidence vote by definition," Mr. Layton told reporters. "I can tell you where we're going to stand on that one: firmly opposed, as will the vast majority of Canadians."
Unless the Liberals are the ones who want the fall election. It appears all they have to do is introduce Corporate tax cuts and an election is in the offing. Considering how strong the Liberals are polling this is a possibility. Expect for the fact that the first Gomery report is scheduled for for week of November - any such Liberal election would have to be finished by then. The timing on that is probably too tight.
