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It looks like we just are days away from Stephen Harper calling a federal election.

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Canada's Prime Minister, it seems, got tired of waiting for Stéphane Dion to call a confidence vote in the House of Commons to force an election.

So he's calling Dion's bluff. Harper is ready to pay Governor General Michaëlle Jean a visit and ask her to set an election date, it appears, for Tuesday, Oct. 14.

And that is just what everyone wants after the Thanksgiving long weekend — an election.

Harper will tell the Governor General he has met with all three opposition leaders, the last being Dion, and he does not have the confidence of Parliament.

All, it appears, have not guarenteed Harper that his government will have their support through a fall session. But they tell a different story.

Meetings with NDP Leader Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe of the Bloc Québécois were not very productive. Each said Harper had one thing on his mind and that was an election.

And it would appear the Conservatives are already in election mode. All weekend, commercials have been playing on television and radio, telling us what a great guy Harper is and how much he has done for the country over the last three years.

But the Liberals, NDP, Bloc Quebecois and Green Party have remained silent in ramping up their pre-election campaigns. Are they even ready with one? They agreed to meet with Harper on the pretense of trying to avoid an election. We wonder why they wasted their time? It appears the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada is hell bent on having an election rather then head back to Parliament on Sept. 15.

And while it will not be as exciting as what is going on south of the border, we are being left with little choice.

What will an election change? We wonder if at the end of the day there will still be a minority government in place like there has been after the last two federal elections.

And locally are we ready. Who will step in to fill the void Bill Tozer left when he suddenly vacated the position in early July? Has the momentum Tozer started been slowed, even stalled, by the lack of a capable candidate stepping forward?

Has it made it easy for sitting MP Charles Hubbard to be re-elected? Only time will tell.

Election calls also stall community projects wading through the bureacratic process to obtain much-needed funds.

So be prepared. It looks like the official call will come between Friday and Sunday.

Be prepared for the constant mud-slinging over who can offer Canadians more.

Be prepared for the debate over Dion's Carbon Tax Credit and what it will do to the country.

Locally be prepared for the debate over jobs and what the federal government has done to help the region since the two mills, Weyerhaeuser and UPM have closed down.

But overall be prepared for a long six weeks of a federal election campaign for an election no one appears be very excited about or keen on participating in.