Time to dust off the "Election Watch" tag?

Another election looming? The Economist looks at the whys and wherefores of the yet-to-be-called federal election:

Not all of the unspoken reasons for seeking an election sooner rather than later are negative. The Conservatives say they can fight the campaign, which must run a minimum of 36 days, without borrowing money. Not so the Liberals, with Mr Dion still repaying debts from his December 2006 leadership campaign. Moreover, the Conservatives may benefit from a swing in their direction in voter-rich Quebec.

Mr Harper gets more points for personal leadership in opinion polls than his Liberal counterpart and one new opinion poll puts the Conservatives at 37% and the Liberals at 29%, virtually unchanged since January 2006. So why call an election at all, if nothing will change? Canadians may not have warmed to his party, but Mr Harper still privately hopes for a majority and at least one pollster reckons a majority is within his reach, if not in his grasp. Machiavelli would surely have thought that good enough reason for an early election.