Dion: Canadians set for election

OTTAWA -- Liberal Leader Stephane Dion says Prime Minister Stephen Harper is determined to have a federal election because he refused to give Harper a blank cheque to govern.

Mr. Dion met with Harper for about 15 minutes at the prime minister's official residence this afternoon and said there is no common ground politically between the two parties.

"Yes, there will be an election. Yes, it's official," Mr. Dion said.

Dion said Harper is determined to call a general election when there is no need for one. The prime minister's office was expected to comment on the meeting Monday afternoon.

The meeting means the stage is set for an election call, which is expected this week.

The prospects for a productive meeting Monday with Liberal Leader Stephane Dion appear dim.

With opposition parties musing about bringing down the minority Conservative government sometime this fall, Harper seems bent on an even quicker trip to the polls.

The prime minister now calls Parliament dysfunctional - even though most of his government's bills had been sailing smoothly to passage when the summer recess began in June.

Harper is now expected to dissolve Parliament this week and set an election date for Oct. 14.

Such a move would violate the spirit of Harper's fixed-election-date law, one which sets the next vote in late 2009 barring extraordinary circumstances.

But it would also offer Harper some political advantages.

With the economy wavering, the election could already be over by the time the government posts its next set of fiscal statistics on the quarterly deficit or surplus.

It would also cancel byelections set for next week, allow for a vote to be held before a Francophonie leaders' summit in Quebec City, and conclude before the American presidential election in November.