There was late word, first broken by CP, that PM PM is looking to meet with NDP Leader Jack Layton to discuss issues of common interest.

Here is the CTV.ca story, and here are some excerpts from the Globe one:

Paul Martin will meet with NDP Leader Jack Layton in an effort to strike a deal that would shore up the Prime Minister's fading hopes of avoiding a spring election.

Mr. Martin's officials reached out to Mr. Layton yesterday to set up a conversation between the two leaders, one day after Mr. Layton signalled that he may support the government if it removes from the budget a corporate tax cut the NDP opposes.

He made the offer in the wake of Mr. Martin's dramatic Thursday night address, in which he pledged to hold an election early next year, within 30 days of Mr. Justice John Gomery's final report into the sponsorship inquiry.

Finance Minister Ralph Goodale told the House of Commons yesterday that his government is "particularly" interested in the NDP's proposals for keeping the budget alive.

"I would be more than happy to examine any specific suggestions that he or the NDP has to make," Mr. Goodale said during Question Period.

Later, he told reporters that making a trade-off between corporate taxes and social spending is difficult because the tax cuts don't take effect until 2008. However, he said that he is willing to meet with Mr. Layton and put forward possible compromises on issues such as postsecondary education, the environment and aboriginal issues.

An NDP official said Mr. Martin and Mr. Layton could meet as soon as this weekend, although a date has not been officially set.

Now, Kilgour had previously said he wouldn't vote to prop up the government, but he softened that position on Friday.

Former Liberal David Kilgour, who had earlier suggested that he would vote against the government, was more vague about how he would vote.

"What if 10 things come out on the other side at the Gomery inquiry?" Mr. Kilgour said during an interview. "I don't want to have to go back on an earlier decision."

The article said besides the two ill Tories, Cadman's health wasn't very good, and there was one ill Liberal. But in a pinch, all could potentially make it to a vote.