OTTAWA: Canada''s prime minister on Sunday triggered an early election, dissolving Parliament in a bid to bolster his party’s grip on power in a vote next month that will be the country’s third national ballot in four years.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he expects the Oct 14 vote to produce another minority government but recent polls show the Conservatives could win the majority they need to rule without help from opposition parties.

Analysts said Harper''s party has a better shot of winning now than if they had waited until being forced into a vote later when the Canadian economy might be worse off or after Canadians could be influenced by the U.S. presidential election results.

In 2006, the Conservatives unseated the Liberal Party, which had held power for nearly 13 years in power, but as a minority government they have been forced to rely on opposition lawmakers to pass legislation and adopt budgets.

Electoral legislation that Harper helped enact after he came to power in 2006 fixed the date for the next election in October 2009.

But a loophole allows the prime minister to ask the governor general to dissolve Parliament, which Harper did Sunday after signaling in recent weeks that he was leaning toward an early election. Harper said he is running on economic issues and has stressed his opposition to an energy tax proposed by the Liberals.