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OTTAWA - Liberals appear to be losing their appetite for a spring election, despite signs that the differences between them and the governing Tories on Afghanistan may yet prove to be irreconcilable.

Just a day after Stephen Harper suggested the parties were heading in the "right direction'' for a deal on the Afghan mission, the prime minister was non-committal Wednesday on two of the key conditions the Liberals have laid down for extending the deployment.

And Liberals were emphasizing the differences that remain over the future of the mission, which will be the subject of a confidence vote next month.

However, only a week after most Liberals were predicting that a spring election was inevitable, party MPs were warning leader Stephane Dion against pulling the plug any time soon on the minority government.

In the Commons, Dion initially said he's "glad that the prime minister is coming to the Liberal position on Afghanistan.'' He was referring to Harper's warm reception Tuesday of a comprehensive Grit amendment to a government motion calling for an extension of the combat mission to the end of 2011 and possibly beyond.

But when Dion pressed Harper on key elements of the Liberal proposal, Harper was markedly less effusive.

Harper dodged when asked if he accepts the Liberal condition that NATO must find another country to take the lead combat role in the volatile Kandahar region by next February. He reiterated instead that the government has adopted the recommendations of the Manley panel, which calls for the combat mission to be extended provided that NATO finds 1,000 more troops to reinforce the Canadian battle group.

Liberal defence critic Denis Coderre later said rotation of the leadership role in Kandahar would require another NATO country to find at least 800 troops to replace Canada's battle group. That's quite apart from the additional 1,000 reinforcements the Manley panel called for, he added.

Harper also refused to be pinned down on a firm exit date for the mission. He repeated that it's his government's intention to end the mission by the end of 2011, although the motion calls only for a review of the mission in 2011.

Harper drew some guffaws from Liberal benches when he asserted that both parties are seeking an end to the mission "around 2011.''

He added that the government is "taking a careful look'' at the Liberals' amendment, which specifies that the mission should end in February of 2011, with all soldiers back in Canada by July 2011.

"The prime minister said that he's coming to our position so we tested that,'' Dion said later. "And we received no answer as you have seen.''

Montreal Liberal MP Pablo Rodriguez said Harper appears to be trying to blur the line between the Liberal and Tory positions on Afghanistan.

"What Mr. Harper wants to do is put a cloud around this whole thing and blur your vision so you would say to the people that there is no difference between the two when there is a huge one,'' he told reporters.

Nevertheless, Liberals MPs aren't eager to force an election over the issue.

Coderre said he would prefer not to have an election until questions about the future of the Afghan mission are settled. Ideally, he said that would be after the NATO meeting in Bucharest on April 2.

"The ambiguity of the electoral environment at that time I think would be bad for us,'' he said.

For the government to survive into April, Liberals would have to support its Feb. 26 budget. Both NDP Leader Jack Layton and Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe signalled again Wednesday that their parties are unlikely to support it.

Most Liberals would prefer an election over the budget rather than Afghanistan, an issue that's proven divisive for the party in the past. But during a closed-door caucus meeting Wednesday, sources say a number of MPs urged Dion not to topple the government unless there's something "really egregious'' in the budget.

Outside caucus, some MPs who'd seemed hawkish only a few weeks ago about fighting an election over the deteriorating economy were more cautious.

"I don't think you should go into an election when there is (economic) uncertainty and right now I think uncertainty . . . is as high as it's ever been,'' said Mississauga MP Paul Szabo.

Toronto-area MP Garth Turner had been one of the leading advocates of an early election until a few weeks ago, when fears an impending economic meltdown caused him to reconsider. He was back to sounding decidedly hawkish on Wednesday.

"I think the government needs to be brought down as soon as possible,'' Turner said.

"I tend to think the budget will be the defining moment. A lot of people are concerned about the economy.''

But while MPs were torn, Senator Marie Poulin, the Liberal party president, was using the threat of an imminent election in her latest fundraising pitch.

"Time is of the essence. We need to be ready at a moment's notice,'' she said in an e-mailed "election readiness alert.''

The government's omnibus crime bill could be another election trigger. The government has threatened to call an election if the Liberal-dominated Senate doesn't pass the bill by Mar. 1.

Liberal insiders expect senators will comply rather than give Harper ammunition to force an election and accuse the Liberals of being soft on crime.

Celine Hervieux-Payette, the Liberals' leader in the Senate, said senators have agreed to expedite the bill, sitting during a parliamentary break next week to hear from witnesses. But she said senators have a duty to give the bill sober review and wouldn't commit to having it passed by the Tory deadline.