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Despite repeated Conservative assurances the next federal election will be in October, opposition parties remain skeptical and are preparing for an early campaign.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said he has no plans for a vote before Oct. 19 the date mandated by 2007 legislation that establishes the third Monday in October every four years as election day.

October, 2015, it is, as the Prime Minister indicated, Mr. Harpers spokesman, Jason MacDonald, told The Globe and Mail on Monday.

And in a Dec. 27 fundraising e-mail to supporters, the Conservatives count down to a fall campaign, saying there are 295 days until the next election.

Still, the New Democrats and the Liberals are getting ready just in case the Conservatives deem the spring more opportune timing.

The Liberal website, for example, shows the party has nominated 182 candidates, and a spokesman said two candidate training sessions have already been held. We have to be ready for a spring election, said Olivier Duchesneau. Well go when we have to go.

The NDP, which has booked a plane for both the spring and fall, says it is finalizing financing arrangements, including negotiating a campaign loan. In an e-mail to supporters on Dec. 28, the NDP explicitly warns: If the pundits are right and Stephen Harper calls an early election, this could be the last fundraising deadline of our campaign.

We have a what if scenario for the spring, said NDP national director Anne McGrath, noting the Conservatives pre-empted a fixed-election date before, when Parliament was dissolved in 2008 after the 2006 election that brought the Tories to power.

Experts say the Conservatives may find motivation to go to the polls before the fall, citing, for example, the April start date for the expenses trial of suspended senator Mike Duffy, who was appointed by the Conservative government.

We have to remember that an incumbent government never, ever, ever telegraphs when an early election might take place it should be no surprise that the Conservatives assert they expect the election to happen in the fall, said Nik Nanos, the head of Nanos Research. But theres no benefit in keeping a promise if youre going to lose.

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NDP, Liberals step up federal election timetable despite October 2015 date

Prince Edward Islands ruling Liberals are riding high in the opinion polls and there is about to be a vacancy in the Premiers office but not one current cabinet minister wants to fill it.

Instead, a coronation is expected on the tiny island province, with the crown going to Wade MacLauchlan, former president of the University of Prince Edward Island, whose political experience so far is being one of 12 members of the North Shore Community Council on the island.

The leadership convention is in February and, right now, Mr. MacLauchlan, 60, is the only candidate for the job of party leader and premier.

I think it was really a feeling collectively that an outsider, or a fresh face would be welcomed Mr. MacLauchlan said in a recent interview.

More than welcome it seems, as the cabinet, including ministers who were considered heirs apparent and most of the caucus immediately and enthusiastically rallied around Mr. MacLauchlan after Liberal Premier Robert Ghiz surprised everyone by announcing his resignation.

He made his intentions known in November, the day after his government opened a new session of the legislature with a Speech from the Throne. He still had a year to go in his mandate, with a fixed election date scheduled for the fall of 2015. Mr. Ghiz, who has been Premier since 2007, said he was leaving because he wanted to spend more time with his young family.

Right now, 50 per cent of islanders support the Liberals, according to a Corporate Research Associates poll released in early December.

The question that I dont know the answer to is: Why dont any of the cabinet ministers want the job? says Don Desserud, a political science professor at UPEI. It could be because they are so in awe of Wade, but if its not that, I dont know what it is I would have thought in any other jurisdiction there would be what we call a pile-on.

Doug Currie, the islands high-profile Health Minister, was considered a successor to Mr. Ghiz, but was among the 250 islanders who were there when Mr. MacLauchlan was piped in to a community hall to announce his candidacy.

He says leadership contests can be divisive and rip the party apart. So, he is happy to support Mr. MacLauchlan.

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PEI Liberals rally behind outsider Wade MacLauchlan to lead party

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Unlike either of the other two political party leaders who spoke to The Telegram at the end of 2014, Liberal Leader Dwight Ball says he spends a lot of time preparing for the next election. Also unlike his opponents, Ball and his Liberals held a pretty steady, unremarkable pace throughout the year.

Rhonda Hayward/The Telegram

Liberal leader Dwight Ball says he's fine with being known for taking a low-key approach to the job.

The NDP had their troubles, and at times the PCs seemed to lurch from one disaster to the next, but Ball says it was a conscious effort for his party to stick to our own knitting and try not to react too much to whatever political storm happened to be underway on any given day.

That cautious approach has served the Liberals well they won five straight byelections this year, and they lead in the polls by a comfortable margin over the governing Tories.

But Balls approach has also led to consistent criticism that he and the Liberals dont really stand for much of anything.

Related story:

Ball says he has lots of policy just dont ask him about the budget

Ball talked to The Telegram just a couple of days after Finance Minister Ross Wiseman revealed that the province is on track for a $916 million deficit.

Asked repeatedly what he thinks about the fiscal situation, Ball always ended up responding by talking about something else, or speaking in vague terms.

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Liberals hope slow and steady wins the race