Prime Minister Stephen Harper has answered Liberal Leader Stephane Dion's public musings about a possible fall election, daring him to send Canadians to the polls.
"Either let the current Parliament work and let us get on with our mandate, or the voters themselves will decide," Harper told a crowd of 1,500 supporters in the Quebec community of St-Agapit on Wednesday.
"Mr. Dion must decide to fish or cut bait."
He said the Conservatives have accomplished "more in three years" in office than the Liberals managed in the last 13, or the Bloc Quebecois could ever hope to achieve in "113 years in opposition."
Peter Van Loan, the government's house leader, has said the government has no plans to prorogue Parliament and come back with a new throne speech -- a confidence motion that would enable the opposition to trigger an election.
Dion has said he believes Canadians are increasingly ready for a federal election. But he told CTV's Question Period on Sunday that an election was possible sometime between now and the election date fixed in law for October 2009.
Harper also reached out to Quebec nationalist supporters in his speech Wednesday, praising them for wishing to build up Canada rather than break it apart like the Bloc Quebecois.
"Because the real nationalism doesn't mean separatism," Harper said in French. "The real nationalists are proud of their region and love Quebec without wanting to break up the Canadian federation."
Before Harper's address, Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon shrugged off suggestions the Conservatives were trying to boost their Quebec support for an upcoming election.
He said a recent announcement the government plans to give Quebec new economic independence -- following in the spirit of the province's talks with France over labour mobility -- is just following the Constitution.
"Our position, our autonomy position as a political party, is to be able to say we respect the Constitution as it was written," he said.
The Conservatives are in Quebec for their summer caucus, which is being held in Levin.
With files from The Canadian Press
