OTTAWA (AFP) — Prime Minister Stephen Harper will urge Canadians in a televised address on Wednesday to reject an opposition bid to oust his Conservatives and install a leftist coalition, without elections.
By week's end, Harper is also expected to ask the governor general to prorogue parliament -- a rarely-used legislative procedure that effectively shuts down the body -- to stall for time.
Harper will speak at 7:00 pm eastern time (0000 GMT Thursday), his office said.
Liberal leader Stephane Dion, tipped to head a new coalition government, will then take to the airways for a rebuttal, his chief spokesman told AFP.
Immigration Minister Jason Kenney told broadcaster CTV that Harper in his address "is going to stand up for Canadian democracy and national unity against a coalition government that includes the separatists and which would jeopardize Canada's economic stability."
Asked if Harper would request a shutdown of parliament to stem the revolt, Kenney said: "We are looking at the legal and constitutional options available."
"I think Canadians want us to turn down the temperature, to stop the political games, to focus on the work they hired us to do, and if that means a time-out ... I think that would be a good thing to let cooler heads prevail."
A move to delay a no-confidence set for December 8 by proroguing parliament would give Harper more time to try to resolve the crisis and allow his finance minister to present a budget on January 27 with a stimulus package.
Governor General Michaelle Jean earlier cut short a four-country European trip to return home to manage the crisis.
It would be up to Jean, as the representative of the head of state Queen Elizabeth II, whether to prorogue parliament or allow the coalition's request for a chance to govern now.
Alternately, the governor general could dissolve parliament and ask voters to weigh in.
"We have an unprecedented situation in Canada now," Jean told journalists at a joint news conference with Slovenian President Danilo Turk before departing for home.
"This really implies that I return to Canada and fulfill my constitutional duties and follow more closely what is happening," she said.
Originally, Jean had planned a three-day stay in Slovenia as part of a four-stop trip to Europe taking in Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Slovenia. But her Slovenia stopover ended up lasting only two hours.
Opposition moves to dethrone Harper were triggered by differences over how to seed an economic turnaround, as Canada confronts the global financial crisis.
These actions come just six weeks after he was reelected with a stronger minority, in Canada's third snap elections in four years.
Canada's ailing auto and forestry sectors welcomed the coalition's power grab, hoping it would lead to a quick bailout for each.
The coalition, after accusing Harper of dragging his feet on a stimulus package, has promised it would fast-track billions of dollars in spending to bolster Canada's economy, forecast to be entering a recession.
Canadians however are split on who to support in this near unprecedented political fight.
According to an Angus Reid poll for CTV, 64 percent of Canadians do not support Stephane Dion becoming prime minister in a coalition government, but 53 percent are against the Conservatives' current economic policy.
Fifty-seven percent are also concerned about the separatist Bloc Quebecois's role in the coalition.
Outside the House of Commons, several Conservative MPs described the plot as "tantamount to treason," while a Carleton University international affairs expert commented it has reduced Canada to a "banana republic with snowflakes" in the eyes of the world.
The poll of 1,012 respondents was conducted on December 1-2, and has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
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