NDP Leader Jack Layton, left, and Prime Minister Stephen Harper squared off over corporate tax cuts during Monday's question period in the House of Commons. ((Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press))

The House of Commons kicked off a fresh session on Monday with opposition leaders presenting a list of demands they want included in the Conservative government's upcoming budget.

It comes after several weeks of pre-campaign posturing and duelling attack ads during the extended winter break that suggest the parties are gearing up for a spring campaign.

During Monday's question period, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff and NDP Leader Jack Layton reiterated their opposition to Prime Minister Stephen Harper's commitment to corporate tax cuts.

But the prime minister insisted the opposition's plans would jeopardize jobs by raising taxes on 100,000 Canadian businesses.

Ignatieff told the House that Canadian families struggling to send their children to university or caring for elderly and sick relatives aren't seeing their priorities reflected in the spending decisions of the Conservative government.

"When will the government start listening to those families where the elastic is pulled tight and start doing things for them, instead of for corporations who don't need the help in the first place?" the Liberal leader said.

With the Liberals already indicating they will vote against Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's budget when it is tabled in March, Harper's minority government must gain the support of either the Bloc Québécois or the New Democrats to survive a confidence vote and avoid a spring election.

Layton, who appears to have left the door open for a deal on the budget to avoid triggering a spring election, demanded the Conservatives increase the guaranteed income suppliment for seniors. The NDP has also called for the Tories to eliminate the federal sales tax on home-heating fuel.

"The prime minister has to make a choice, either to come to the assistance of families or to hold an election," Layton told the House.

But the prime minister defended the corporate tax rate cuts as a job creation measure, saying the reduced rates free up cash for businesses to grow and hire more Canadians.

Harper replied that the government has helped families with tax reductions, family allowances and increases in employment insurance payments.

"I would encourage the NDP leader and the other opposition parties to not think about elections but to think about helping families," he said.

The tax rate for corporations fell to 16.5 per cent from 18 per cent on Jan. 1, and is scheduled to drop to 15 per cent next January as part of a five-year reduction plan approved by Parliament in 2007.

For his part, Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe has already outlined $5 billion his party wants spent on measures for Quebec, including $175 million for an NHL arena in Quebec City, in return for supporting the government's budget.

During question period, he assailed the Conservatives for what he said was a double standard for Quebec over its bid for $2.2 billion in tax harmonization compensation compensation from Ottawa. But Harper replied the federal government is still negotiating with the province.

The Conservatives have accused the opposition leaders, especially Ignatieff, of conspiring to trigger an "opportunistic" and "unnecessary" election at a time when Canada's economic recovery is still vulnerable.

In a briefing Monday, Dimitri Soudas, communications director in the Prime Minister's Office, reiterated Harper's willingness to speak with opposition leaders about budget preparations.

Giorno named new Tory campaign chair

But while the Conservatives insisted Monday they are willing to work with opposition parties, they also signalled that they are ready for an election by announcing that former PMO chief of staff Guy Giorno will be their campaign chair.

Giorno takes over from Conservative Senator Doug Finley, the Tories' longtime campaign chief, who is undergoing cancer treatment.

Soudas said the government is also seeking progress with the European Union in free trade talks and hopes to complete trade deals with Jordan and Panama.

But Soudas added the government has no intention of making a confidence vote out of anything that is not normally one, including the trade bills or the government's anti-human smuggling legislation.

The Conservatives are also expected to move forward this week with updates to the Criminal Code that would make citizen's arrests easier to carry out, and Soudas said the government would work with the opposition on the legislation.

The Liberals and NDP both tabled private member's bills calling for the changes in the wake of Toronto shopkeeper David Chen's highly public legal ordeal following his detainment of a shoplifter.

Soudas added the first bill to be debated in the session is one to repeal the so-called "faint hope" clause of the Criminal Code, which allows prisoners serving a life sentence to apply for early parole after 15 years.

Harper's MPs and ministers have used the break to laud the government's record on the economy and to stress the need for continuity as Canada emerges from the global recession.

The Liberals have also indicated they will keep pressuring the government on strained relations with the United Arab Emirates, which began with a dispute over landing rights for the U.A.E.'s two state-run airlines and culminated in Canada's military being evicted from a Dubai base it used for staging operations in Afghanistan and higher visa costs for visiting Canadians.

Asked in an interview with CBC News earlier in the day whether he believes a spring election is inevitable, Ignatieff said: "You should ask Stephen Harper that question."

"We have made it clear for months now that we think they've got the wrong priorities," he said.

"We made our position clear and we'll see how he reacts in the budget."

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