Canada's political parties may appear destined to do battle in an election this spring, after the budget date was announced Wednesday, but experts say it is still possible that at least one party will find a way to stave off a trip to the polls.
Recent polls have put the governing Conservatives firmly ahead of their rivals, but pollster Nik Nanos said they may still not think it is the right time to call an election.
Nanos told CTV's Canada AM that the Tories are currently "flirting with majority" in the polls, but they may lack confidence that their high levels of support will hold if they were plunged into an immediate election campaign.
The Tories have run a series of attack ads lately that have yet to be matched by their opponents. But Nanos said that advantage will "evaporate" when an election begins and the Conservatives could see a drop in their support at that time.
"That's why I think the Conservatives are very cautious about doing a little victory lap, so to speak, at this point and time, looking at the polls," he said.
The Liberals continue to trail the Conservatives and Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has yet to capture widespread support from the Canadian public.
Jane Taber, the host of CTV's Question Period, said the pressure is on Ignatieff to make a breakthrough in the polls, which have recently put the Liberals between eight and 16 points behind the Tories.
"One Liberal said to me that people were waiting for a ‘head transplant' for the party and you know what that means -- that means that people are organizing in the wings on leadership," Taber told CTV's Canada AM from Ottawa on Thursday morning.
"They'll be giving Mr. Ignatieff this chance, but there are a lot of Liberals who are pretty concerned about these poll numbers."
CTV's Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife said Ignatieff has gained experience as a politician and may provide more of a fight than his opponents expect.
The New Democrats, meanwhile, are pushing the Conservatives to implement several costly proposals in the upcoming budget, including a boost to the Guaranteed Income Supplement and dropping a sales tax on home heating fuel.
NDP Leader Jack Layton has said his party's budget proposals are "practical and doable," despite Conservative intentions to cut government spending.
But he told CTV's Power Play on Wednesday that Prime Minister Stephen Harper "isn't giving much of a signal that he wants to work with us."
Fife said he has been assured that Layton is ready and willing to launch an election campaign, despite recent health problems.
Because the Liberals and Bloc have signalled that they are not going to support the Conservative budget, Nanos said there is reason for the Tories to seek out the help of the NDP in avoiding an election.
"I believe at this point and time that the NDP and the Conservatives somehow will work out some kind of accommodation to at least have the budget pass," he said.
Nanos said that the NDP strategy is to "put pressure on the Conservative government to deliver something" so that Layton can sell the party to voters as a difference-maker in a minority parliament.
"I think what the NDP want to do is to go into an election and continue to show that they are relevant and that it's not about whether people want Stephen Harper in or out," Nanos said.
With files from The Canadian Press
