Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin

The ASSociated Press has Canadian Government Falls on No-Confidence

A corruption scandal forced a vote of no-confidence Monday that toppled Prime Minister Paul Martin’s minority government, triggering an unusual election campaign during the Christmas holidays.

Canada’s three opposition parties, which control a majority in Parliament, voted against Martin’s government, claiming his Liberal Party no longer has the moral authority to lead the nation.

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

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.

Opposition leaders last week called for the no-confidence vote after Martin rejected their demands to dissolve Parliament in January and hold early elections in February. Monday’s vote follows a flurry of spending announcements in Ottawa last week, with the government trying to advance its agenda ahead of its demise.

Martin is expected to dissolve the House of Commons on Tuesday and set a firm date for the elections. Under Canadian law, elections must be held on a Monday _ unless it falls on a holiday _ and the campaign period is sharply restricted.

Captain Ed over at Captain’s Quarters Blog who owns the Adscam Scandel Story has ‘This Government Has Lost The Moral Authority To Govern’

The Canadian Parliament approved a historic no-confidence motion against the Liberal executive in Ottawa this afternoon, dissolving the government and forcing elections weeks after the Gomery Inquiry issued its first comprehensive report on the Liberal corruption in the Sponsorship Program:…

I’m listening to the aftermath on CPAC, where the Liberal apologist wants to tell Canada that Adscam involved “a few Liberals”, but that “no one believes that it involved the party as a whole”. That apparently will be the line that the Liberals take in this election, along with a scolding tone about all of the great work that the Commons could be doing instead of holding another election seventeen months after the last one.

Well, that’s why elections get held — so that the Liberals can make that argument now that the country knows about the extent of the corruption. If they want to offer up the notion that just a few Liberals involved themselves in the money-laundering and featherbedding that went on in Adscam, I expect that the Tories and BQ will quote extensively from the Gomery report to remind voters of the extent of the corruption, including all of the money that flowed back into the Liberal Party through the government contracts given to cronies of Jean Chretien.

Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin gives a thumbs-up to caucus members as he stands next to Transport Minister Jean Lapierre, right, after voting against a no-confidence motion in Ottawa, Monday, Nov. 28, 2005. Canada’s three opposition parties, which control a majority in Parliament, voted against Martin’s government, claiming his Liberal Party no longer has the moral authority to lead the nation.

It is about time the Canadian parliament was dissolved and new elections called.

Flap thought it would be this past summer but the politicians waited for the

of the Gomery Commission that is located here.

READ IT ALL.

Will the Liberal Party of Paul Martin be able to explain away the rank corruption of their government?

Will Stephen Harper, leader of the Conservative Party, be able to form a majority or a minority-coalition government after the elections?

Stay tuned…….