Â鶹ӰÊÓ

With rising poll numbers suggesting a Conservative majority is within sight, a Tory cabinet minister is refusing to quell speculation of a spring election.

"I see a very busy month ahead," Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice told CTV's Question Period on Sunday.

"I see the budget coming, of course, later in the month. (Environment Minister) John Baird has spoken about his plans relative to the environment in the month ahead, so it's going to be a month that Canadians will be able to take stock of how this government is moving forward in a very activist way, and we are anxious to make this Parliament work."

Prentice kept referring to the immediate parliamentary calendar when asked about his party's rising stock as reflected in recent polling.

The chair of the Tory cabinet's powerful operations committee said Canadians are happy to finally see a "decisive" government that's moving forward in a "very activist way.

"Good polling numbers are always good, but it is about providing Canadians with the sort of government that we promised," he said, "and the Prime Minister is decisive on all of the issues that matter to Canadians, on the question of terrorism, on protecting the economy, on the environment, on the tax measures that benefit hard-working Canadians."

With MPs now back in their ridings for a two-week break, the last 10 days of parliament at the end of March will indeed be a busy one for the Tories.

An environmental policy paper is expected to be tabled before Finance Minister Jim Flaherty delivers his budget on March 19.

Two days later, a Bloc Quebecois sub-amendment to the main budget bill is expected to lead to the first confidence vote of the House of Commons' spring session.

Then, on March 26, Quebec voters head to the polls. Prentice refused to answer directly a question on how a Quebec election would influence his party's campaign strategy.

"We'll wait to see how the Quebec election turns out, but coming back to the importance of a prime minister and a government that is decisive and is determined, we see at this point that federalism is stronger in this country than it has been in many years," he said.

Prentice added, however, that his party's active agenda needs parliamentary approval and that it's up to the opposition parties and Liberal Leader Stephane Dion to make some tough decisions in the weeks ahead.

Whether or not we actually see a spring vote, political scientist Antonia Maioni said all parties are nevertheless preparing for one.

"We see Stephane Dion criss-crossing the country, trying to meet Liberals on the ground whenever he can," Maioni, a professor at the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada in Montreal, told Â鶹ӰÊÓnet.

"We see Stephen Harper being very statesmanlike in the House of Commons, making sure everyone's present at question period, and trying to whip his party into shape as well."

Ontario Liberal MP Jim Karygiannis has taken signs from the last campaign election out of storage, convinced he'll be planting them on lawns this spring.

"I think the prime minister's misleading the Canadian public. He's eager to go, he's ready to go, and I think within four to eight weeks, he's going to pull the plug on us," he told CTV.

The two deciding factors on whether or not Canadians will head to the polls this spring, said Maioni, comes down to what will happen after the March 19 federal budget and what happens on March 26 when Quebecers go to the polls.

"(Quebec Premier Jean) Charest and Harper need each other, and their political futures are very much entwined," said Maioni.

University of Ottawa political scientist Michael Behiels said if Charest's Liberals win, it would be a boon for the primer minister.

"The window of opportunity is opened, and I don't think (Harper) is going to give the Liberals five more minutes to get organized," Behiels told CTV.

Tory attacks

While Harper has repeatedly said that he's in no hurry to have an election, he has been busy making big announcements on the environment, on an AIDS initiative with Bill Gates, and the mission in Afghanistan. Further, the Tories have been repeatedly painting Dion as a leader who is soft on crime and terrorism.

"I look across the floor of the House of Commons, and I do not see a strong leader," said Prentice. "I see a Liberal party that increasingly is soft on terrorism, is soft on crime, does not share the budgetary priorities of hard-working Canadians and is increasingly out of step with Canadians."

Liberals Denis Coderre and Mark Holland came to Dion's defence, and blasted Harper and the Tories for spending millions of dollars on personal attack ads to force an election Canadians don't want.

"I think that the Prime Minister wants the election soon," said Holland, Dion's natural resources critic. "Canadians don't, and certainly we don't. I think that Canadians want a minority government. They wanted it to work. What instead we have is somebody who has a crass political agenda and sort of shoves everything else aside."

Former Liberal cabinet minister Scott Brison, meanwhile, said Canadians will get to see what Dion is made of in the coming weeks as the Liberal leader criss crosses Canada.

"The fact is as Canadians get to learn more about Stephane Dion in the coming weeks about his values, about where he stands on the environment, where he stands on social justice, they're going to like him," said Brison on Question Period.

With a report from CTV's Roger Smith and files from the Canadian Press