Dion: Liberals to assess best odds..

Well at least Dion has dispensed with his usual rhetoric about Canadians not wanting an election etc.etc. anything but the real reason. However, it is unlikely he will dispense the sitting on hands ritual or dispense with the practice of letting bills pass that the Liberals abhor and vigorously and vacuously lambaste in parliament.
April is the cruellest month breeding limp Liberals out of the dead land. Pace T.S. Eliot.

Liberals to assess best odds, Dion says
DANIEL LEBLANC

From Saturday's Globe and Mail

March 29, 2008 at 8:16 AM EDT

OTTAWA — The Liberals will judge coming confidence votes in Parliament on their own self-interest and their shot at victory in the ensuing election, leader Stéphane Dion said yesterday.

"We will determine the timing of the election when we will have the best odds of winning," he said in an interview that will run on the French-language TVA network tomorrow.

"It's rare that the population wants an election, but we can feel it when the fruit is ripe. And at that time - it's not up to me to tell you when; it's part of the strategy that we keep close to our chest - there will be an election."

Mr. Dion's acknowledgment that he is waiting for winning conditions before going to the polls came after a tough week in Quebec, where his leadership was challenged by activists who said the party is ill-prepared for a vote.


Election timing is a crucial issue for the Liberals as the House reconvenes on Monday after a two-week Easter break, with several confidence votes to come as the budget moves through the minority Parliament.

The budget bill includes controversial changes to immigration rules, which the Liberals oppose. In addition, there are always confidence votes in the spring as MPs are required to approve routine government spending.

But the Liberals have refused to vote in large numbers on confidence motions for months.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and NDP Leader Jack Layton have openly derided Mr. Dion's stand, which is getting mixed reviews in the Liberal caucus.

Liberal MP Denis Coderre openly complained this month about the situation, saying his "hands are starting to hurt and I'm tired of sitting on them."

Mr. Dion has invoked a number of other reasons to justify his past refusals to bring down the Harper government, including the high expense of a general election.