It's On

The Globe and Mail catches up.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper continued this new, aggressive tack in the Commons yesterday, engaging in sabre-rattling as he flatly rejected Mr. Ignatieff's proposals to boost access to employment insurance and warned he was ready to fight an election on this.

I believe that settles it: it's on. Ignatieff made clear that he'll fight an election for EI reform and Harper agrees. The two party leaders have been getting increasingly blustery, and neither looks likely to back down. People in the know disagree with me, but in a self-contradictory way:

The Liberals, anxious not to be forced to look like they're dodging a fight, have double-timed the selection of candidates and advanced the deadline for their election platform to have it ready in weeks.

But senior strategists on both sides said they don't believe there will be an election this spring.

Here, Lawrence Martin wonders why the Liberals are being so polite when they could have savaged Harper for his prorogation. Perhaps Iggy is trying to emulate Obama and remain above all that, but I doubt that he could paint himself as such an idealist at this point. Nonetheless he keeps things pretty high-brow in his response:

"Now, when we're in the middle of the worst economic crisis this country has faced in a generation, all the Conservatives can think about is getting together in some basement room and working on some attack ads. Is that serious government?"