Canada's government and the no-confidence vote

[AggieDave 6]

So from everyone well north of the Mason-Dixon line, what does the no confidence vote mean to you and what is your opinion of it?

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/11/28/noconfidencevote051128.html

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MPs topple Liberal government, trigger election
Last Updated Mon, 28 Nov 2005 19:32:56 EST
CBC News

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.
Paul Martin addresses his caucus after his Liberal minority government was defeated in the House of Commons. (CP photo)

In a 171 to 133 vote, the House passed a 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.

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 Québécois with 53 and the NDP with 18. There are four seats held by Independents and two are vacant.

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 was picked by 20 per cent.
Stephen Harper speaks to his supporters after the Liberal defeat.

With a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 per cent, 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.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[IanHarrop 43]

Unfortunately, we may very well end up with another Liberal minority...

"Where troubles melt like lemon drops, away above the chimney tops, that's where you'll find me" Dorothy

[CanuckInUSA 0]

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So from everyone well north of the Mason-Dixon line, what does the no confidence vote mean to you and what is your opinion of it?

It means time for a January election since the ruling party (the Liberals) were defeated in the House of Commons today.

As to what it means to me, there isn't a hope in hell that I will be voting Liberal as they are corrupt. Nor will I vote for the NDP since they are even more socialist than the Liberals (and I can't/wouldn't vote for the Bloc Quebecois). So unless I vote for an independent candidate (not likely) I guess some of you know who I'll be voting for.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[AndyMan 7]

The Canadian Liberal party has a minority government. This means that while the party has more seats than any other party, they have less than 50% of the seats. To ensure they keep in power, they must align themselves with a second party to stay in power.

Over the last few years, they've aligned themelves with the far left NDP - New Democratic Party, by promising not to cut taxes.

Well, they cut taxes anyways, so the lost the support of the NDP. This means they were at risk for the majority of the house to offer a vote of 'non-confidence'.

After a vote of non-confidence, the prime minister must call an election.

The 3 opposition parties, The Conservative party (right), the Bloq Quebecois (quebec regional party on the right), and the NDP (left) did just that. They did it thinking they could do better in an election held today than they did in the last election.

Me? I don't think it'll change much. I think the parties will do relatively the same in this election as they did in the last, and it'll end up with the government in the exact same situation. I think the NDP and the conservaties will do mildly better than before, at the expense of independents.

I'd actually like to see the Conservative party do better than last time, I'd love to see them make inroads in Quebec. The Bloq Quebecois is splitting the vote of people on the right, and its' keeping the conservative party from being a truly national party. Nobody will effectively take on the ruling liberals unless they're a national party. Plus, the conservatives are hobbled by their leader being a complete moron, but that's just my opinion.

The riding I get to vote in has always gone Liberal or NDP. I'm not sure who I'd vote for.

_Am

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You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[SkyDekker 1,465]

It means that Canadians are too fucking stupid and will vote liberal again and we will end up with the same crooked administration in a minority government held up by the fucking socialists NDP.

The conservatives are stupid too, they have to get rid of their party leader, Harper< and run Peter MacKay....then they may actually have a chance.

For our American friends, who will just take this as American bashing, many Canadians are worried that voting for the conservatives will make Canada more similar to the current climate in the US, which many view as a negative.

[rehmwa 2]

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For our American friends, who will just take this as American bashing, many Canadians are worried that voting for the conservatives will make Canada more similar to the current climate in the US, which many view as a negative.

WHAT? How dare you compare your crooked governmental parties to our crooked governmental parties. What kind of US bashing is that? We are crooked in a much more esteemed fashion than your crooks. Why, we have a congressman from California selling his $200K house for $1M to defense contractors. Then, he's surprised when he gets caught. We have several full time drunks in the Capitol, and a few carpetbaggers too. Now that takes CHEEK.

But we did stop having them wear wigs - I'm pretty sure that's where the downslide started. It's hard to stay mad at a guy wearing a powdered wig. You almost have to laugh and then work together.

Powdered wigs, that's the answer to world peace and effective government. Yeah, powdered wigs.

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants