MPs topple Liberal government, trigger election (Canada)

[tritsofme]

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.

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.

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

[HEyHEY]

1. Doh!

[Canadian Socialist]

2. So, the PM goes to the GG tomorrow?

And then I guess we find out when we vote. Probably the middle of January. Brrrr.

[daleo]

3. Most likely Jan 23, I read in today's paper

They claimed the campaigns will shut down from about Dec 23 to early Jan. We'll see. This seems crazy to me. I see a slight majority for the Liberals. People will punish the opposition for the early election.

[Catch22Dem]

4. Can someone shed a little more light on what this means?

Treat me as though I'm an idiot, because I pretty much am. :D

[daleo]

5. The short answer is, there will be an election in January

The longer answer is:

The last parliament was quite evenly split between four parties. None had a majority of seats, but the Liberal Party had the most. However, the other three parties could outvote them if they banded together. Eventually they did just that (today), and passed a non-confidence motion, which is just what it says - a motion stating that the governing party doesn't have the confidence of parliament. At that point, the PM goes to the governor general (a mostly ceremonial position) and asks for an election to be called. This almost always happens, although in principle the GG can ask the other parties to try to form a government.

Which means Canadians are now stuck with a mid-winter election, only 18 months since the last election. Voters are often inclined to punish the party or parties they consider responsible for causing an election before voters really want one. So, this might backfire on the opposition. But, obviously, they wouldn't agree with me, or they wouldn't have forced an election.

[Darth_Kitten]

6. Probably another Liberal minority government....

:evilgrin:

Non-confidence vote. (I think, I've been so out of the loop. yikes!)

Canadians go to polls January 23.

Bloc Quebecois leader looks grumpier than Hell. But he always does.

A big waste of money to get....another Liberal minority government. :evilgrin:

[LeftCoast]

7. Elections in Jan? Will bad weather depress turnout?

I wonder if this has anything to do with the push for early elections?

[daleo]

10. It could depress turnout somewhat

Mid January is not too inviting in some parts of the country (most parts really). One would expect it would depress turnout of the older demographic, though, which tends to be a little more conservative. So, it doesn't seem like the Conservative Party ought to have wanted an election for this reason.

On the other hand, this will probably put more emphasis on TV and less on campaign volunteers. The Conservatives have the greater corporate backing, and thus can purchase more TV time. That's the only angle I can think of.

[Thor_MN]

8. So?? Canada's liberals are corrupt and the US's Conservatives are corrupt

How about a straight up exchange?? We won't even ask for 1.1656 politicians for each one we send north... Although dividing them up into fractional units might not be a bad idea... a bit messy coming out of the chipper/shredder but it would be satisfying at some level

[applegrove]

9. Disgusting! We do not even have the Gomery final findings. It is such

a risk to Quebec. Then the PCs don't care about that. Glad the NDP didn't put the motion forward. Hope they learnt their lesson at how slippery the Cons are.

[Spazito]

11. LOL, this is actually a hoot

An election for no other reason than 'just cause'. NO big issues, polls say Canadians yawning at Gomery report, not happy election being forced, cranky voters are notorious for punishing those who forced them to the polls early so I wonder who is going to pay the price? I say we will have another minority government after all the kerfuffle ends.

[deminks]

Canadian government defeated

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051129/ts_nm/politics_can_dc

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's shaky minority Liberal government lost a vote of confidence on Monday, ending a 17-month stay in office that was largely overshadowed by a patronage scandal.

Prime Minister Paul Martin was set to visit Governor General Michaelle Jean -- the representative of head of state Queen Elizabeth -- on Tuesday to ask her to dissolve Parliament and set an election date.

A well-placed source told Reuters that Martin would call an election for January 23, setting the scene for the country's first winter campaign in more than 25 years.

Opposition legislators, who voted by 171-133 to bring down the government, cheered loudly when the results were declared.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

12. will the election be close?

Who looks to win--and if it is the Liberals, can they choose a different PM? I'm asking because I'm not sure exactly how that works. Thanks for the information.

[deminks]

14. The next paragraph says this

Recent opinion polls show the most likely result is another minority Liberal government, which will again be forced to rely on support from other parties to stay in power.

[politicaholic]

24. It looks like another Liberal government! WoooHooo!

They balanced the budget and legalized gay marriage. Now THAT'S a good government. Sure, Paul Martin and his friends had a little advertising scandal, but that just shows the integrity of the government willing to make their leaders accountable for their actions.

Notice Tony Blair isn't standing up or even saying a peep on Paul Martin's behalf. Canada still has the Queen on their money for godsake! Disgraceful, absolutely disgraceful!

[AX10]

13. Come on Liberal Majority!

[Yupster]

15. Could some Canadian

give a brief synopsis of the contending parties?

[CHIMO]

16. Here Goes

Liberals : Dinos
Conservatives: Religious right and Rummy + Rove + Dick
NDP: Bernie Saunders and John Conyers types
BLOC: All of the above when it suits them.

OK. Watch me get flamed.

[AX10]

17. The BLOC are not religous wackos.

They are for Gay Marriage.

[Spazito]

20. Not a bad summary, would say Libs : DLC tho

All and all a fair assessment, imo, so no flames from me.

[Up2Late]

28. Oh Good, you Canadian Folks are finally here. I have another question!

It was sort of asked above but, What IS the deal with Canada still having QE2 on your money? I thought you folks declared your Independence quite a while ago?

If you could, please compare and contrast Canada's form of government to say, Ireland, South Africa, Australia and or India. I don't need a long answer, I'm just a bit confused about Canada's form of government.

[Swede]

30. Our head of state is the Queen.

Canada is part of the British Commonwealth of nations. It is a democratic monarchy with the Govenor General the Queen's representitive in Canada. Australis,New Zealand,India are also memebers.

[CHIMO]

31. It Was

The second best as god was already chosen by another country.

[Spazito]

34. Canada is still a member of the commonwealth so the Queen is

the head of state, ceremonial only. We are a Parliamentary system of government which allows the multi-party system which, in turn, can result in minority governments as we have just seen. We have the House of Commons, elected, and the Senate, appointed. We also have a Supreme Court which is also appointed. Unlike the U.S. where you have three branches of 'government': the legislative, the executive and the judicial, we only have two: the legislative and the judicial.

The Prime Minister is not elected by the public but, rather, is first elected as leader of his/her party by only the party members and only becomes the Prime Minister if his party wins the majority of seats in an election or, in the case of a minority government, more seats than any one of the opposition parties.

I really can't compare our government to others except for the U.S. as I am not familiar though, if they are based on the Parliamentary system, they are all very similar.

[CHIMO]

37. Perhaps

A slight correction on the executive branch.(A dollar a year man)

The Executive Branch in Canadian History

The political executive of the Canadian government holds power only so long as that government maintains the confidence of the House of Commons. If a majority of those elected to the House vote against key legislation or other important business moved by the government, the resignation of the political executive usually ensues, and the governor general -- performing his or her formal executive duty -- invites another individual to form the government and fill the vacant Cabinet positions, including that of prime minister.

In the smaller Cabinets of the nineteenth century, executive political power was shared between the prime minister and his Cabinet ministers. Prime Minister Mackenzie Bowell (1823-1917) reluctantly conceded this point in 1896, when he lost the confidence of his Cabinet and was forced to resign. Over the past few decades, however, observers of Canadian political culture have noted that executive power has been increasingly concentrated in the office of the prime minister, while the collective influence of the federal Cabinet has declined. This modern balance of power is determined by the prime minister's priorities and personality.

http://www.collectionscanada.ca/executive-decree/023004-2010-e.html

[Up2Late]

43. Thanks to All, that helps a bunch.

So, on average, is the Canadian Government as corrupt as the U.S. Government? (I don't really mean as compared to Bush Co., who are far more corrupt than normal, I mean generally)

[Endangered Specie]

32. would it be fair to compare them to the british parties?

like Liberal = New Labor
Conservative = Tory
and NDP = Lib Dem?

I guess you could compare the Bloc to the (smaller) Northern Ireland nationalist parties of the UK?


:shrug:

[Harper_is_Bush]

18. Liberal, Conservative, New Democratic Party (NDP), and Bloc Quebecois (BQ)

You can get informed here:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/election2005/

Basically (in my view) the Liberals are fairly centrist. They do stuff that angers left of center folks. The Conservatives are pretty much like the Republicans. Mostly white, anti-gay, anti-tax, pro-privatization, anti-universal health care.
The NDP is a more to the left than the liberals...more socially minded and anti-militarization. It would be great if they could get elected, actually, but people are afraid if they vote for them the Conservatives will sneak in...and it's a valid fear.

The Bloc is only in Quebec...they're not a national party. They're all about seperatism. I hope they all choke on pretzels and die.

[PM Martin]

19. Vote Liberal!

Together we can keep Canada economically prosporous and free from the tyranical hands of George Bush.
Under my administration, there will be no discrimination, no war, and economic opportunities for ALL Canadians.

[screembloodymurder]

22. Is the US involved in this?

What do the people think?

[Harper_is_Bush]

27. What do you mean? Is the US right helping Canadian Conservatives?

Sure...Conservatives are excellent activists and network extensively.

I would not be surprised to know that $$$ are flowing North for Harpers crew. How helpful would it be for Bush to have a leader in Canada who will do what he wants? Very.

Of course, all the money in the world won't change the perception in Canada that the Conservatives are wannabe Republicans....and we see what is happening in your nation.

[Harper_is_Bush]

25. I'm voting Liberal (most likely) but come on...

Paul Martin is busy doing things right now other than blog on a mostly American site!

Let's not pretend we're someone we're not, mmmmk?

[Hyernel]

21. Are the Bushies pulling strings behind the scenes?

Undermining yet another government that was opposing them?

Lets have some leaks!!!

[ananda]

23. It was the scandal.

Polls show that the Canadian people favor liberals by a significant majority, and that Canada is in very good shape economically, with low unemployment and a big budget surplus.

It looks like the scandalfucks will have to go down, but Canada should come out all right.

This info was provided by the Canadian expert interviewed on BBC World this evening.

Sue

[Endangered Specie]

33. Could you (or anyone) explain "the scandal"?

[Brundle_Fly]

35. government gave big advertising

contracts to quebec ad firms that didn't really do much work.

the entire scam was equivilent on what the us spends on Iraq in 1.5 days over the course of years, the people that were found responsible are not even in the government anymore.

pretty tame in the scheme of scandals, here is a full write up.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/groupaction/paper_trail.html

excerpts for the very lazy.

The Quebec wing of the Liberal Party of Canada used the sponsorship program to funnel money into its coffers, a former ad executive charged this week at the Gomery inquiry.

The payment scheme was allegedly used by high-ranking Liberals in 1998, 1999 and 2000, the inquiry was told. The rule of thumb, testified Brault, was that 10 per cent of the 12 per cent commission fees he charged to manage sponsorship projects, would be transferred to the cash-strapped party. According to Brault, the deal applied to projects to promote the government of Canada at events organized by Le Groupe Polygone Editeurs and Expour.

more

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/groupaction/brault_testimony.html

[CHIMO]

36. Short History

The auditor that examines things found that from 1995 to about 2002 there was $100 million that could not be traced according to the required paper work. Paul Martin, the last prime minister was now the leader of the government and decided to make an issue of this to get rid of the previous prime ministers influence(Who happened to have beat him in the previous leadership for the party).

So after having taken over all the local ridings he became Mr. Clean, out to clean things up.

But instead it has come back to haunt him. Something that would have easily been swept under the rug in the overall nature of things.

The money was supposed to go against fighting the separatists in Quebec but when everyone got their hands into the pie it ended up in different places. So there is presently a government commission looking into the matter and to present its findings in the spring of next year.

If you would like a more complete description you can follow this site.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/auditorgeneral/report2004.html

Something about "Sowing the wind and reaping..."

[Up2Late]

26. (Update from AFP) Canadian government toppled in no-confidence vote

(Could one of you nice Canadians please explain to us, in language we, the unrepresented and disenfranchised Americans, can understand? What happens next and when?)

Canadian government toppled in no-confidence vote

29/11/2005 00h49

OTTAWA (AFP) - Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin's embattled Liberal minority government was ousted by a no-confidence vote in Parliament, kicking off a likely frosty election campaign over the Christmas holiday. Canada's three opposition parties, who had threatened for months to topple the government amid acrimonious exchanges in the House of Commons over Liberal Party corruption allegations, voted 171 to 133 to force an election.

Voters are likely go to the polls either January 16 or January 23, 2006. Three Canadian minority governments were previously felled by no-confidence votes, but Martin's Liberals were the first ever to fall on a stand-alone censure motion.

The motion comes after Martin rejected an opposition ultimatum to promise to dissolve Parliament in January. He had instead pledged to call an election in March or April, 30 days after the release of a final report on a government funding scandal involving the previous Liberal government.

But New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Jack Layton withdrew his crucial support for the Liberals soon after the release of a damning preliminary report on the scandal in early November. The Liberals are accused of receiving kickbacks from advertising firms awarded millions of dollars in government contracts from 1995 to 2002, during the government of then-prime minister Jean Chretien, to counter a separatist movement in the French-speaking province of Quebec.

<http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/051129003548.7tj3yxtb.html>
(more at link above)

[CHIMO]

29. Tomorrow

The Prime Minister (PM) will visit the head of state and call for an election, as the people of Canada no longer have confidence in his government and leadership as indicated by the elected members in the House(Parliament).

She will consider the request and if in her opinion there is no other possibility to have a group in Parliament govern, which would mean they would have to survive a vote of confidence, she will call for an election.

So the people will go to the polls.

One big change this time is that there are limited financial contributions from corporations(They started after the last election). Each vote for an individual receives about $0.75 per year to the party. So finances for this election will rely on member contributions and leather at the doorsteps more so than in past elections.

Here is a site that explains things in more detail.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/cdngovernment/index.html

[Up2Late]

42. Thanks for the info, that helps a lot.

BTW, did you see "The Colbert Report" tonight? He "took calls" and some guy called in to tell Colbert that the map that he uses for his "Better know a district" segment was missing the Michigan Upper Peninsula. Colbert told him, sorry, but if it's not on my map, you live in Canada. :evilgrin:

[spooky3]

38. Thanks to all the Canadian DUers for the explanations.

[tuvor]

39. And this man will lead us into the future!

I, for one, cannot wait!

[daleo]

41. And, curiously, he is the one leader not in favor of same sex marriage.

Shows how first impressions based on a picture can be misleading.

[Emops]

40. A couple of questions from an American observer:

-That nutjob Tom Wappel is a Liberal, isn't he? Why hasn't he been expelled from is party yet?

-If the Liberals had to choose a new leader, who would it be?

[Stockholm]

44. Canadian Govt. Falls in No-Confidence Vote

TORONTO (AP) -- Canadian politicians will hit the campaign trail this holiday season after opposition parties seized upon a corruption scandal to bring down the minority government of Prime Minister Paul Martin in a vote of no confidence.

Monday's loss means an election for all 308 seats in the lower House of Commons, likely on Jan. 23. Martin and his Cabinet will continue to govern until then.

The Conservative Party teamed up with the New Democratic and Bloc Quebecois parties to bring down the government, claiming the ruling Liberal Party had lost its moral authority. Recent polls have given the Liberals a slight lead over the Conservatives, with the New Democrats in third place.

The same surveys suggest the Bloc Quebecois would sweep the French-speaking province of Quebec, making a majority government unlikely no matter which party wins the most seats.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CANADA_ELECTIONS?SITE=KJLL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2005-11-29-06-27-44">more

[bluestateguy]

45. As long as an anti-Bush party wins, that's all I care about

In France, Chirac leads a center-right party, and they are anti-Bush, so that's fine with me.