Monday will be Liberal Leader Stephane Dion's turn to meet with Prime Minister Stephen Harper ahead of what is widely expected to be a looming election call.
Dion had indicated he was too busy to meet with Harper before Sept. 9. After several attempts to set up a meeting, the prime minister suggested an election call could come with or without a Dion meeting.
The two are now slated to meet Monday at 4 p.m. at the prime minister's residence.
"I will ask Stephen Harper face to face to explain why he is in such a rush to violate the spirit of his own legislation," Dion said in a statement. "I will ask him to explain why he wants to break his word, yet again."
A centrepiece of Tory democratic reform initiatives in the last election was a law fixing election dates to be held every four years, with the first scheduled for October 2009. Harper has argued that the law only really applies in a majority-government situation.
"The prime minister should be spending less time trying to dream up contrived reasons for forcing an election, and more time addressing the serious issues facing our country, not the least of which is an ongoing food safety crisis".
Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae told CTV Newsnet, "Mr. Harper has made no secret now for the past month of his desire for an election."
Harper's aides have suggested the prime minister is likely to call an election to be held on Oct. 14, with a launch date of Sept. 5 or 6.
"The election campaign, in some sense, has already started," Rae said.
Liberal Deputy Leader Michael Ignatieff told CTV's Question Period that Harper is panicking.
"I think (Harper) is in a position of weakness. He looks ahead and sees change coming in the United States. He sees the economy softening. He sees a recession coming. He possibly sees a deficit accumulating," Ignatieff said.
The main issue in the election would be Harper's record, he said.
"This is a government that promised it wouldn't tax income trusts and broke the promise that devastated the savings of a million Canadians. This is a government that promised it was going to give us more childcare spaces which matters to every Canadian family. I don't see a childcare space out there," he said.
"This is not an election about Stephane Dion. This is an election is about Stephen Harper ... do you have enough faith he will not break promises again?"
Ignatieff suggested there may be changes coming to Dion's "Green Shift" carbon tax plan, which is expected to be a central plank in the Liberal election platform. The Liberals have said the plan will be revenue neutral because it will offset new energy taxes on carbon producers by giving tax breaks for most Canadians.
Some critics have raised concerns the Liberal plan may add new burdens for farmers, truckers, and rural residents who may be most affected by new fuel taxes.
"We have to make sure we listen to all Canadians -- those who make their living pouring diesel into tractors, for example. Those make their living pouring diesel into boats ... My sense is that it's important that we listen to the people who produce our food," Ignatieff said.
Opposition leaders expect election
Harper has already held separate meetings with Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe and the NDP's Jack Layton. Both say they think Harper will drop the election writ.
"He wants an election in the best interests of his party," Duceppe said after their meeting on Friday.
Layton said Harper seems "intent on quitting his job" after the two met at 24 Sussex Drive on Saturday.
"I got no sense the prime minister is prepared to do what I would do if I were prime minister," he said.
The Green Party also entered the fray on Saturday. Leader Elizabeth May announced that British Columbia MP Blair Wilson would be joining her party to give them their first and only sitting house member.
Wilson resigned from the Liberals after complaints emerged accusing him of spending irregularities in the 2005-06 federal election. Elections Canada cleared Wilson in response to the allegation.
The Greens, a relatively young federal party in Canada, have not yet elected an MP in either a byelection or general election. As a result, its leaders have not been invited to participate in televised leaders' debates during the campaign.
May noted in the release that with "a Green MP sitting in the House of Commons, it will now be impossible to exclude the Green Party from the televised leaders' debates in the next election."
The Tories quickly dismissed the argument.
"Our view is there should only be one Liberal candidate in the leaders' debate," Harper communications director Kory Teneycke said on Saturday.
Under the terms of a non-compete agreement, May has agreed not to run a candidate against Dion in his riding. He has also agreed not to contest her Nova Scotia riding.
"You can't have two candidates from essentially the same party in the debate," Teneycke said.
