Federal Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said Wednesday that Canada needs a federal election next month as much as the country needs "a hole in the head."
And he said he would prefer to lead a coalition government, should he not be satisfied with next week's federal budget.
The other option if the Conservative government is defeated in a Commons vote on the budget is a federal election, but Ignatieff said another election is not what's best for the country.
"We need an election in February like we need a hole in the head," he said during a visit to Montreal. "It's not the best stimulus package we could have."
Ignatieff is being strongly egged on by his fellow opposition leaders, New Democrat Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe of the Bloc Quebecois, to go the coalition route. Both have written off the Harper government in advance of the budget, and they were joined by Quebec's largest labour central, the Federation des travailleurs et travailleuses du Quebec, on Wednesday.
"We continue to support the solution of a coalition government," Michel Arsenault, FTQ president, said after a meeting with Ignatieff at union headquarters. Calling the Harper government "the enemy of consensus, democratic consultation and transparency," he said he fully expects the Conservative budget to be worthy of defeat. Source.
