By Randall Palmer and David Ljunggren
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper took the unprecedented step on Thursday of seeking the suspension of Parliament so he can avoid being ousted by the opposition next week.
Harper's 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 parties particularly hard.
Harper's Conservatives won a strengthened minority in an October 14 election but now face a confidence vote in Parliament on Monday that they are likely to lose. The opposition Liberals and New Democrats have signed a deal to defeat Harper and form a coalition government.
They are backed by the Bloc Quebecois, which wants to break up Canada by gaining independence for French-speaking Quebec.
Harper went to see Governor General Michaelle Jean -- the representative of Queen Elizabeth, Canada's head of state -- on Thursday morning and a spokesman for the prime minister said he would ask her to suspend Parliament. Any suspension would most likely last until a federal budget set for January 27.
Harper arrived at 9:30 a.m. (2:30 p.m. British time) and officials said that he was still speaking to Jean at 10:50, indicating the meeting was continuing much longer than initially expected.
Harper's request is unprecedented because no prime minister has ever asked for Parliament to be suspended so soon after an election, and no prime minister has asked for a suspension to avoid a confidence vote in Parliament.
The opposition -- which accuses Harper of running away from his responsibilities -- says it is also angry that a recent government fiscal update contained few measures to help a Canadian economy hurt by the global meltdown.
The spokesman said Harper would address reporters if Jean gave him her decision. If not, he would return to his office and wait.
If Jean says no, most experts agree that he would be obliged to stand down on the grounds that her refusal indicated she had lost confidence in him.
But if Harper, who first took power after a January 2006 election, did decide to buck convention he would then most likely lose Monday's vote.
Harper went on national television on Wednesday evening to denounce the Liberals and New Democrats.
"At a time like this, a coalition with separatists cannot help Canada," Harper said. Conservative legislators openly say the opposition members of Parliament are trying to mount a coup and one suggested they were traitors.
"This is the worst time for Canada that I have seen," said New Democrat legislator Thomas Mulcair, usually one of the calmest members of Parliament.
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.
"Whether he contrives an exit from his immediate travails over the confidence vote, the Harper era appears to be approaching the end. But before that happens, there is a danger Canadian unity will be harmed," the influential Globe and Mail newspaper said in its lead editorial on Thursday.
Constitutional experts say Jean could well agree to the request, but may place conditions on government spending.
"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.
If Harper does survive until late January, the first confidence vote on the budget would be in early February.
The Conservatives are launching a full-scale campaign to demonize what they call "the separatist coalition."
An early sign that their pressure might be working came on Wednesday, when Liberal legislator Frank Valeriote told the Guelph Mercury newspaper that he wanted to work with Harper to deal with the economy rather than joining a coalition.
(Reporting by David Ljunggren; editing by Peter Galloway)
