OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper is accusing the Bloc Quebecois of political opportunism for threatening to trigger an election over Canada's military mission to Afghanistan.

He says the Bloc's threat to introduce a non-confidence motion, sometime in the new year, over his handling of the Afghan mission is careless and hypocritical.

Harper says the mission is very dangerous, but he says it's a crucial mission because Canadian soldiers are providing humanitarian aid.

Duceppe says he supports Canadian troops being in Afghanistan.

But he says there needs to be a rebalancing, accusing the government of being too obsessed with fighting terrorists and not doing enough rebuilding.

The other opposition parties have suggested they could support a Bloc motion on Afghanistan.

But such a move would be especially tricky for the Liberals.

Their caucus includes numerous critics of the current mission, but they sent troops to Afghanistan in the first place.