My gut feeling is that there won’t be a spring election. That said, the Liberals are painting themselves into a corner where they really don’t have much choice but to vote against the government in any upcoming confidence votes without looking rather Dion-esque.

After all, if you put the government “on probation” and then demand the Finance Minister be fired and say the government failled to meet their targets…well, that’s straight Fs, which gets anyone on probation kicked out of school fairly fast.

Michael Ignatieff calls for the resignation of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty

OTTAWA – Today in Question Period, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff asked Prime Minister Stephen Harper to fire Finance Minister Jim Flaherty for his mismanagement of the government’s finances and failure to get economic stimulus funding out the door.

“On the most pressing issue facing the nation – this recession – the Minister of Finance has failed. His projections are out the window again, leaving Canadians with the largest deficit in history – and no economic stimulus to show for it,” said Mr. Ignatieff.

“Minister Flaherty had it wrong from the start. In September, the government said there wouldn’t be a recession. In October, they promised no deficits. In November, they predicted a surplus. In January, they gave us a $34 billion deficit. Now we learn that the deficit has grown to $50 billion and climbing.”

“This government can’t get its numbers right, can’t get stimulus out the door, and can’t get the job done for Canadians. Canadians have lost confidence in the Minister of Finance. After four months of failure, will the Prime Minister fire his Minister of Finance?”

Mr. Ignatieff’s call comes as the Harper government failed to meet its120-day target to get stimulus flowing – with no job creation, few construction projects underway, and a record $50 billion deficit compounded by Conservative mismanagement before the recession.