Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor downplayed differences with Chief of Defence Gen. Rick Hillier in comments Wednesday, saying the two are in lockstep.

"General Hillier and I are on line," O'Connor told reporters in Charlottetown, where the Conservative caucus is meeting for the first time since the summer break began in June.

He said he speaks with Hillier on a daily basis and gets his information directly from him.

They have been in the headlines recently over conflicting statements about when Afghan troops will be able to take over security responsibilities.

"I don't make this stuff up," O'Connor said. "It's the way you interpret our words."

A week ago, O'Connor told CTV's Question Period he expected Canadian troops to begin shifting from a combat role to one of training at the end of the troop rotation beginning now.

Hillier seems much less optimistic that would happen, saying it will take "a long while" before the Afghan troops are ready.

But O'Connor downplayed those apparent differences on Wednesday.

"I never said that the army units would be trained within six months," he said, according to The Globe and Mail.

"I said that over the next six months we will get four or five of these battalions to train. And if you check, my words, word by word, I said that at some time in the future we will be able to go into some reserve state. But we don't know how long that is."

O'Connor said that even though Canadian troops are transitioning to more of a training role, that doesn't mean there will be less danger to soldiers or casualties will become less common.

He also addressed the UN Security Council's decision to authorize 26,000 troops and police to held bring security to Sudan's Darfur region.

O'Connor said Canada has not yet been asked to contribute troops, but said Canada has committed up to $70 million in equipment, training and transportation to the effort.

O'Connor was speaking to a small group of reporters that had to that point managed to avoid being evicted from the Delta hotel where the caucus meetings were being held. The RCMP was busily keeping journalists out of the facility, said Jane Taber, co-host of CTV's Question Period.

The three days of strategy sessions are expected to focus on policy and priorities, with election planning taking a back burner now that the threat of an imminent election has passed.

There is also word that caucus members are considering releasing a Throne Speech in the fall, Taber told CTV Newsnet.

"They're hoping they will be able to get through a fall session and into a budget without an election. I think they're thinking they're pretty strong and the Opposition is pretty weak," Taber said.

"I think the biggest thing we're hearing about that might come out of these discussions is that they might come out with a Throne Speech for September, prorogue Parliament after the byelections on Sept. 17, come back after the Ontario election with a Throne Speech and a whole new plan."

She said the move could be designed to propel the government toward a budget in early 2008, and possibly trigger an election in the spring, Taber suggested, but said "we'll see about that. They're playing down the "e-word" as well."

Harper is set to meet with Robert Ghiz, P.E.I.'s new Liberal premier and will speak at a barbecue tonight that is expected to attract more than 500 people. He is expected to tour several ridings in Atlantic Canada where he hopes to gain ground in the next election.