Prime Minister Stephen Harper told reporters Tuesday that he is still deciding whether he will call an election this fall. (CBC)

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he won't be breaking his promise to Canadians if he calls an election this fall, a year ahead of the fixed date set by his own government.

The statement drew the ire of Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion, who was quick to accuse the prime minister of creating a "prefabricated emergency" so that he can rush to the polls at a time that is best for his own party.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday morning, Harper said the goal of the fixed election date — the next one being Oct. 19, 2009 — is to provide Canadians with some sense of certainty.

But he argued that in the context of a minority government like the current one, certainty is never possible because opposition parties are always threatening to vote against the ruling party on confidence motions and topple the government.

"We are clear," Harper said at a news conference at the national archives in Ottawa. "You can only have certainty about a fixed election date in the context of a majority government.

"Look, if any of the opposition parties wanted to provide some, any degree of certainty that we'll be here to October 2009, then we'll have an election in October 2009."

Can't wait for meeting with Dion

Harper said the opposition parties have not shown their support for the continuing work of Parliament — the NDP and Bloc have indicated they want an election called, while Harper said the Liberals have proposed their own $15.4-billion carbon-tax plan in June, suggesting they want the government to move in a different direction from the current path the Conservatives are on.

The prime minister said he is continuing to consider whether an election needs to be called, a decision he has said he expects to make in the next few weeks. Senior Conservatives have suggested Harper could pull the plug on his minority government as early as Sept. 2.

"The country must have a government that can function during a time of economic uncertainty," Harper said.

He said he is not willing to wait for Sept. 9, the day Dion has suggested he could meet with Harper to discuss the issue of whether Parliament can continue as is. The meeting would occur a day after three federal byelections in Quebec and Ontario; a fourth byelection is slated to take place in Ontario on Sept. 22.

"We don't need to wait three weeks for a meeting to occur," Harper said.

"As I have already said, this shows a fundamental difference between the government and the opposition parties, and particularly Mr. Dion, who has proposed an economic agenda [the carbon-tax plan] which is completely the opposition of the government's program."

Dion insists Parliament 'is working'

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion says the prime minister is trying to rush an election. (CBC)

Responding to Harper's comments Tuesday afternoon, Dion flatly denied the prime minister's contention that the current workings of Parliament are dysfunctional.

"That's not true," he said in French in response to a reporter's question in that language. "Parliament is working. What's not working is this government."

Dion pointed to the fact that at the height of the listeria outbreak in Canada, which is suspected of killing at least 12 Canadians, the federal health minister is out of the country. Dion also accused the government of being ill-prepared to handle Canada's worsening economy, and wary of the potential fallout from the ongoing parliamentary investigation into the Conservative Party's election spending.

"It's clear that he's trying to invent a reason to rush to an election, to hide how much he is ill-prepared to face the difficulties of the country," Dion said of Harper.

He also accused the Conservatives had misrepresented their efforts to nail down a meeting time with his office.

He said his staff had been approached only eight days before, and at that time suggested Dion could get together with Harper on Aug. 26. It was Harper who could not free his schedule to meet at that time, Dion charged.

"The prime minister has invented a new episode in a prefabricated emergency and he claims for three weeks now we have been unable to agree on a date for a meeting."

The Liberal leader accused the prime minister of focusing on the failure to set up a meeting time in order to save face.

"He wants to meet me and pretend that the meeting went so badly that he needs to call an election," he added.

Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe said he has told Harper he could meet with him on Sept. 5, 6 or 7 to discuss the state of Parliament, while NDP Leader Jack Layton has said he's free any time after Friday.

"What's Mr. Harper doing, walking away and just saying, 'I quit?'" Layton asked. "That's a loser mentality that I think a lot of Canadians will have difficulty accepting."

Has PM 'made up his mind'?

The CBC's Keith Boag, covering Harper's news conference in Ottawa, said Tuesday's comments marked the first time Harper has been direct in answering questions about the possibility he will call an election.

Harper didn't say an election would depend on what Dion decides, or on any other conditions, as he has in past news conferences.

"The prime minister is not trying to be coy about it in any way at all anymore," Boag said. "He more or less accepted that an election is going to happen."

"When the prime minister himself is talking that way, you can pretty much take it to the bank that he's made up his mind that he'll have to call an election very, very soon."

Fixed-date election made law in 2007

The Conservatives introduced legislation in 2006 calling for a federal election to be held on a fixed date every four years. When the legislation was made law a year ago, it did state that the date could be broken if the opposition defeated the government on a confidence vote.

The law also allows the governor general to dissolve the government early if it is deemed necessary. Since the governor general only acts on the advice of the prime minister, the clause gives the PM the power to topple the government early.

Prior to the fixed-date election law, Canada followed an age-old British practice that allowed a government to carry on for as many as five years without an election, with the prime minister allowed to call an election at any time within that span.