Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said yesterday he would decide in coming weeks whether an election is needed this year to give a new mandate to a Parliament that he has increasingly described as dysfunctional.

The head of the main opposition Liberal Party, Stephane Dion, also said he was considering pulling the plug on the minority Conservative government, but remained coy on whether he would do so this year, saying timing was key.

And one poll suggested that after two-and-a-half years, much longer than the normal Canadian minority government, voters are becoming more eager for an election.

For most of his mandate so far, Mr Harper has said he hoped to govern until the fixed election date of October 19, next year, but he has lately expressed growing frustration with what he calls Liberal obstruction.

"What I will have to decide over the next few weeks is whether or not we can have a productive fall session of Parliament, or whether, in fact, the government - a government - needs a new mandate," Mr Harper told reporters.