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won’t force early elections

TORONTO — Canada’s opposition Liberal leader announced Wednesday that his party won’t force early parliamentary elections by voting against the minority Conservative government’s legislative agenda.

A decision by the Liberals and two other opposition parties to vote against Prime Minister Steven Harper’s priorities announced Tuesday night would have triggered a fall election. But Liberal leader Stephane Dion said Canadians didn’t want an election.

"We will not make the federal government fall,” Dion said. "We believe it’s not in the national interest to have an election now.”

In a speech on its priorities for a new session of Parliament, the Conservative government said Canada’s military mission in Afghanistan should be extended to at least 2011 but promised a vote on the issue.

The government also promised a sweeping anti-crime bill and major tax cuts and said the country would not meet its climate change commitments under the Kyoto accord.

The first vote on the agenda was expected Thursday. Dion said the Liberals would assure Harper stays in power by abstaining from voting if necessary to avoid a defeat for the government in Parliament.

Harper’s Conservatives have 126 seats, while the opposition Bloc Quebecois with 49 and New Democrats with 30 say they will vote against the government. So the Liberals, holding 96 seats, could have brought down the government if it had decided to vote against Harper. The government’s agenda, "with all of its weaknesses, has to be assessed in light of the fact that Canadians don’t want an election right now. They want Parliament to do its job,” Dion said.

Conservatives won elections in January 2006 to unseat the Liberals after nearly 13 years in power. But as a government without a majority in Parliament, the Conservatives have a tenuous hold, having to rely on opposition lawmakers to pass legislation.

The Liberal Party has been weakened since by-elections last month when it lost a district it traditionally wins.

Speaking for Harper’s government Tuesday, Governor-General Michaelle Jean — Canada’s ceremonial head of state — said Canada should stay directly involved in Afghanistan until at least 2011 when it believes the Afghan army and police will be able to provide security on their own.

Canada’s current mission in Afghanistan expires in February 2009, and all three opposition parties are pressing the government to promise Canada will end its combat mission in southern Afghanistan.

The government said the mission will be put to a vote in Parliament after Harper’s hand-picked panel reports back with its recommendation on the future of the deployment. The options include pulling out troops or remaining there.

Seventy-one Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have lost their lives in Afghanistan since 2002. Canada has about 2,300 soldiers operating in Kandahar province, the former Taliban stronghold.