The Prime Minister's Office is remaining mum on this one, but reports are that Stephen Harper will be making a rare address to the British Columbia legislature in Victoria next week.

The surprise visit is provoking lots of chatter on the West Coast and has even led to joking that Mr. Harper is traveling out there to prorogue the provincial legislature.

The humour results from the fact it's odd for a prime minister to speak to a provincial legislature. Even stranger is that, according to Vancouver Sun columnist Vaughn Palmer, it was Mr. Harper who invited himself, rather than accepting an offer to speak from B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell.

Dimitri Soudas, the Prime Minister's spokesman, had no comment on that today. Mr. Harper is to speak Thursday to the legislature in advance of the Olympic opening ceremonies Friday.

Why does he want to speak to British Columbians? According to a new EKOS poll, the Conservatives are still leading in British Columbia but by a much smaller margin - 30.4 per cent of decided voters in the province say they would support the Conservatives compared to 27.6 per cent for the Liberals.

Pollster Frank Graves says this is "a big shift for the worse for Tories." Previous EKOS surveys had shown a "surprising negativity" about Olympic spending, Mr. Graves says. He found that about 70 per cent of Canadians thought they had spent "too much" on the Vancouver Games.

(Photo: Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)