Opposition parties are full of sound and fury about what they say is Prime Minister Stephen Harper's tyrannical tendencies, his alleged cover-up of the Afghan detainee torture scandal, and Thursday's "do-nothing" budget.

But none of that signifies an election is in the offing.

The budget and Wednesday's throne speech will trigger a series of confidence tests for Harper's minority government over the next few weeks. And opposition parties could topple the Tories if all three were to vote against the government on any one of those tests.

But Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff made clear Thursday that a spring election simply isn't in the cards as far as his party is concerned. And even with that buffer, NDP Leader Jack Layton hedged on how far his party will go to show its disdain for the government.

"Canadians don't want an election," Ignatieff said as he announced that Liberal MPs will vote against the budget, but not in sufficient numbers to defeat the government.

Ignatieff was badly burned last fall when he boldly asserted that Liberals would bring down the government at the earliest opportunity. Support for the party and its leader went into an immediate nose-dive.

Ignatieff said he's learned his lesson: "I get told things once, I don't need to get told twice."

He said Canadians have told him they want Liberals to present a clear alternative to Harper's Tories. And he said he's been trying to develop that alternative "brick by brick and stone by stone" through his cross-country townhalls and policy roundtables which will culminate at a vaunted thinkers' conference in Montreal this month.

"When that alternative is ready, when Canadians can see a clear choice between cuts and freezes and gimmicks and an alternative that gets this economy going - really meets the challenges of jobs and growth - then maybe we'll have an election," he said.

"But remember where we are. We've had three or four elections in the last few years and I got told very clearly by Canadians last autumn, 'Don't do that again."'

Privately, Liberal strategists say they'd prefer to avoid an election at least until the fall and preferably next year. They want time for Ignatieff to find his feet and develop a platform and for the party to stock its war chest.

Layton declared his party won't vote for a budget that "has completely left behind the victims of the recession" while giving a "multibillion dollar gift to big banks."

But he wouldn't say if New Democrats will actually vote against the budget or find other, less risky ways to show their disapproval, such as abstaining or not showing up for budget votes.

"We're leaving various options open," Layton said. "We'll talk about that with our caucus."

Only Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe was categorical about his party's opposition to the budget, which he maintained shortchanges Quebec on a host of fronts. He said Bloquistes will vote against it, regardless of the consequences.

"The question has never been for us to be in favour or not of an election but are we supporting a measure or not and then facing the consequences," Duceppe said.

"It happened in the past that we supported the budgets. But that (latest) budget certainly not and not only we're not supporting it but we'll be voting against it."

Earlier Thursday, opposition parties hammered away at Harper's decision to shut down Parliament for almost three months and his continued refusal to hand over uncensored documents related to the alleged torture of Afghan detainees.

Harper rejected calls for new rules to limit his power to prorogue. And he rebuffed demands for the detainee documents, even though that could potentially end with him being found in contempt of Parliament.

The prime minister appears to have concluded he can ignore the barking of opposition parties as long as they have no intention of biting.