With three of Canada's national political leaders madly shaking hands at a Sikh festival in Toronto, it looked like an election had already been called.

"Canadians from one coast to another understand the tremendous contribution that Sikhism is making to our country," Prime Minister Paul Martin said Sunday. He made a brief speech but also vigorously pressed the flesh in the crowd of about 15,000.

Sikh Liberal backbench MPs and Toronto-area cabinet ministers tagged along with Martin.

"The Prime Minister's already campaigning so I have to catch up with him on the campaign he's not running," a slightly huffing Conservative Leader Stephen Harper told reporters.

Harper later told the Sikhs, "The Sikh community has no greater friend ... than the Conservative party," and noted his party's opposition to same-sex marriage. Sikhs are also on record as opposing same-sex marriage.

The two men, along with NDP Leader Jack Layton, attended Khalsa Day celebrations, the equivalent of new year for the Sikh faith.

There are about 400,000 Sikhs in the Greater Toronto Area, making them one of the larger ethnic groups.

While Martin and Layton met with many people Sunday, they didn't directly meet with each other.

On Thursday, after Martin made his statement to Canadians asking an election take place after the Gomery inquiry into the sponsorship scandal issues a report. Layton made his own public offer.

He proposed throwing his party's support to the Liberals' budget if the Grits agreed to stop about $5 billion in corporate tax cuts.

However, while the two leaders have agreed to talk, no one is saying when or where.

Layton clarified the terms of his support on Sunday, saying it was limited to the budget, not protecting the Liberals against a possible non-confidence vote sometime in May leading to a June election.

"We're not talking about propping anyone up, we're talking about delivering something for the people," he told reporters.

"It's about trying to get something positive done on social and environmental issues for Canadians."

Harper shrugged off talk of a possible deal, saying: "We will not cut deals. The NDP and the Liberals can cut deals if they want to, but I don't think they're deals that the public voted for."

Pundits have said NDP support can't save the Liberals from a combined Bloc Quebecois-Conservative assault unless the Liberals also have the support of all three Independents -- and ex-Liberal David Kilgour has said he will not support the government.

Layton has argued that on a budget vote, the Conservatives might have some members out of the House of Commons.

In early budget votes, the Conservatives abstained while the NDP and Bloc voted against the budget.

Harper told The Canadian Press that even if the budget died with the Liberals, a new government would have plenty of time to make any necessary spending decisions.

Oliver's view

Craig Oliver, CTV's chief parliamentary correspondent, said it unlikely the government would agree to the NDP's terms.

"That was important to Finance Minister Ralph Goodale. He might even be forced to resign if the prime minister agreed to drop, to him, such an important part of his budget plan."

What Goodale did was eliminate the corporate surtax, which was introduced in 1987 as a deficit reduction measure.

He also planned to reduce the general corporate income tax rate by two percentage points, from 21 per cent to 19 per cent by 2010. The cuts would start in 2008.

"This will help all businesses in Canada, especially small and medium-sized businesses," Goodale said when the budget was released on Feb. 23.

Next steps

Parliament is in recess until May 2.

All three leaders plan to tour Ontario in the next few days. Canada's largest province has 106 of 308 seats in Parliament.

With 74 Liberal MPs there, any significant erosion in support in Ontario for Martin's party would likely end the Grits' hold on power.

CTV's Mike Duffy, speaking on Newsnet, said Martin really wants to mobilize Canadians against an early vote, as shown in his Thursday speech.

"I guess the Liberals ... would like to frame the debate, at least for the first couple of weeks, around the issue of should Gomery be allowed to report before we have the election."

There are good reasons why the Liberals would like a delay, Duffy said.

Some important witnesses will be testifying soon at the Gomery inquiry, while the first criminal trials arising from the scandal will start in June, he said.

With a report from CTV's Craig Oliver and files from The Canadian Press