[Mb-civic] CBC News - MPS TOPPLE LIBERAL GOVERNMENT, TRIGGER ELECTION

Mon Nov 28 16:13:28 PST 2005

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MPS TOPPLE LIBERAL GOVERNMENT, TRIGGER ELECTION
WebPosted Mon Nov 28 18:33:49 2005

---The opposition parties banded together Monday to defeat the Liberal
minority government and set the stage for an election that is expected to
culminate in a mid-January vote.

In a 171 to 133 vote, the House passed an historic no-confidence
motion exactly one year and five months after Canadian voters elected
the Liberals.

Prime Minister Paul Martin will now have to go see Governor General
Michaëlle Jean Tuesday morning and ask her to dissolve Parliament.

As the vote was conducted, parliamentarians stood up to applaud MPs who
will not be running in the next election.

 INDEPTH: Divided Parliament

The Liberal defeat marks the first time a government has fallen on a
straight motion of no-confidence in Parliament.

Other minority governments have been forced into elections after losing
budget votes or censure motions interpreted as loss of confidence.

Last week, Opposition Leader Stephen Harper officially tabled the motion
of no-confidence which read: "That this House has lost confidence in the
government."

The Liberals have 133 seats, followed by the Conservatives with 98, the
Bloc Quebecois with 53 and the NDP with 18. There are four seats held by
Independents.

According to a poll conducted by Environics Research for the CBC, 35 per
cent of decided voters said they would vote Liberal. The Conservatives
came in at 30 per cent and the NDP were picked by 20 per cent.

With a margin of error +/- 2.5%, 19 times out of 20, the poll puts the
Liberals and Conservatives at a virtual dead heat.

Federal elections have to be held on a Monday and the campaigns have to
be at least 36 days long. Martin is expected to call for a slightly
longer campaign, setting the vote for mid-January, either the 16th or the
23rd, with an agreement among the parties to take a holiday break and
stop campaigning between Dec. 23 and Jan. 3.

An eight-week campaign would be the longest the country has seen in
two decades.

The last time a government fell at the hands of the opposition was Joe
Clark's Conservative government in 1979.

Monday's vote means a number of bills will die on the order paper, among
them an act to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana and an animal
cruelty bill.