With just several days left in the life of the Liberal minority government, it appears an election campaign is already underway -- and Canadians can look forward to a lot of nasty talk and character assassination.

It began in Parliament Thursday, when Conservative Leader Stephen Harper introduced his motion of non-confidence in the government and said the Liberals had lost their moral authority to lead the country due to the sponsorship scandal.

Later, he went a little further:

"(Liberals have) been found guilty of breaking every conceivable law in the province of Quebec with the help of organized crime,'' Harper said. "The Liberal party has no desire to change, no intention to change, and no ability to change.''

Liberal party operatives responded with an email sent to CTV's Mike Duffy Live, saying they were considering legal action on the comment.

And it spilled into the corridors outside the House of Commons, when MPs began sniping at the political opponents in language almost unprecedented in Canadian politics.

MP John Reynolds, the Conservatives' campaign co-director, called Immigration Minister Joe Volpe a "sleazebag" -- after Volpe accused Conservatives of being anti-immigrant for voting down one of his bills.

"Mr. Volpe is a sleazebag,'' said Reynolds. "I imagine that's the kind of campaign he'll want to run in Ontario but we'll fight back very hard.''

Volpe, who has come under fire for $56,000 in office expenses that included some very expensive pizza dinners, fired back, accusing Reynolds of running up his own expenses.

"He spent $138,000 last year travelling," Volpe said. "What did he do? Travelling by luxury jet everywhere, drink champagne, slug down a little bit of caviar."

The mud-slinging can only intensify, as Harper and Prime Minister Paul Martin face off for the second time in 18 months -- each of them battling for their political lives.

The Globe and Mail reported Thursday that the Liberals have a set of negative campaign ads to air near the end of the campaign, portraying Harper as a frightening, right-wing politician. A similar strategy seemed to boost Liberal fortunes towards the end of the 2004 election campaign.

The NDP's strategist Jamie Heath isn't surprised by this Liberal strategy. "They have been in power for 12 years and their typical tactic is to attack everyone else," he said.

A vote on the Conservative non-confidence motion is slated for Monday evening, and the collapse of the government is all but certain.

Martin will visit the Governor General the following day, and is expected to propose an election date of Jan. 16 or 23.

Federal election campaigns are generally five weeks long, and this one will be seven or eight weeks, with breaks for the Christmas and New Year holidays.

CTV's Craig Oliver predicts Martin will choose Jan. 23, hoping to benefit from an extra-long campaign.

"The Liberals believe that Harper is a horse who folds in the stretch," Oliver said.