Those waaaacky Liberals

National Post headline: Liberals discuss engineering own minority defeat; election within two years

Liberals are already predicting a self-induced implosion of the minority Parliament followed by a federal election in 2005, just two weeks after a wary electorate slapped them down to minority status.

Party insiders - including several MPs and political staff - said the talk at Wednesday's post-election caucus gathering focused on how they might seize an opportune moment next year to trigger an election.

"We're gearing up," said one Liberal MP who asked to remain anonymous.

"It'll be one year, a year and a half, and we're going back."

Those private predictions fly in the face of assurances by Prime Minister Paul Martin that voters want to see their minority Parliament succeed and last.

But some Liberals are already predicting they will wait for a spike in popularity, then trigger their own defeat in Parliament over a bill designed to provoke the Bloc Quebecois.

Remember what I said about how the Liberals would have to do absolutely everything right between now and the next election if they really want to stay in power? How they have to act chastened and play nicely with others? This would, um, not qualify.

Citizenship takes ten months, or so they tell me. Between this and the fact that Jack Layton *still* hasn't gotten a call from the prime minister, I'm beginning to fear that the date I applied wasn't soon enough for me to be able to vote next time, after all.