By David Ljunggren
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is expected on Thursday to take the unprecedented step of seeking the suspension of Parliament so he can avoid defeat at the hands of the opposition.
Harper's extreme gambit is the latest development in a constitutional crisis that erupted last week after he tried to cut public financing for political parties, a move that would have hit the opposition particularly hard.
Harper's Conservatives won a strengthened minority in an October 14 election but now face a confidence vote in Parliament on Monday they are likely to lose. The left-leaning Liberals and New Democrats signed a deal to defeat Harper and form a coalition government. They are backed by the Bloc Quebecois, which wants independence for French-speaking Quebec.
The opposition says it is also angry that a fiscal update the government released last Thursday contained few measures to help the Canadian economy, which is increasingly feeling the effects of the global slowdown.
Harper now has no choice but to visit Governor General Michaelle Jean -- the representative of Queen Elizabeth, Canada's head of state -- and ask her to suspend Parliament until he can deliver a budget on January 27.
Harper went on national television on Wednesday evening to denounce the Liberals and New Democrats for having formed an alliance with the separatist Bloc Quebecois.
"At a time like this, a coalition with separatists cannot help Canada," said Harper, who promised to take "every legal means" to fight the opposition.
No prime minister has ever asked for Parliament to be suspended so soon after an election. Harper sees Jean at 9:30 a.m. (2:30 p.m. British time) and the unique nature of the occasion means no one knows how long the visit will last or how long Jean will take to make up her mind.
Constitutional experts say Jean could well agree to the request, but may place conditions on government spending initiatives until Parliament returns.
"In our day and age for a governor general to second-guess the prime minister, to not accede to his request, would be quite interventionist," said Ed Morgan, a law professor at the University of Toronto.
TAKING AIM AT 'SEPARATIST COALITION'
If Jean says no, Harper, who first took power after a January 2006 election, would have to resign.
If he does survive in office until late January, the first confidence vote on the budget would be in early February. If Harper loses that vote, experts say Jean would most likely give the opposition a chance to govern rather than calling an election so soon after the last one.
The Conservatives -- who have a much bigger war chest than the opposition -- are set to launch a full-scale campaign to demonize what they call "the separatist coalition."
Domestic media organizations say they are receiving an unprecedented number of comments from Canadians. While many people are unhappy with the idea of Bloc support for a government, others condemn Harper for triggering the crisis.
If Parliament is suspended, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty would have until January 27 to produce a spending-rich budget the opposition would find it hard to vote against -- thereby ensuring Harper's survival.
"There will be some additional stimulus, inevitably, in the budget, given that we're seeing deteriorating fiscal conditions around the world," Flaherty told CTV television on Wednesday.
(Additional reporting by Louise Egan; Editing by Peter Cooney)
