Canada PM Harper dissolves Parliament

OTTAWA, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, saying the nation's voters will "choose the way forward," dissolved Parliament Sunday and set an Oct. 14 election.

Harper met Sunday in Ottawa with Gov. General Michaelle Jean and emerged from Rideau Hall to announce she had "seen fit to dissolve Parliament," the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

Harper, when asked whom he thought would win the election, told the CBC, "We believe it is going to be a tough election. We believe it will be a tight election. And, yes, we believe in all likelihood it will be a minority."

Liberal leader Stephane Dion said the election would mark the most "crucial" campaign in Canadian election history. The broadcaster said his plan would impose $15.4 billion in new taxes on high-carbon producing Canadian industries, with higher consumer prices to be offset by broad-based tax cuts.

Harper, however, took direct aim at Dion's carbon-tax proposal, saying, "This tax will pack a cost on to every expenditure every family and every business makes."