CBC News
Posted: Mar 25, 2011 12:58 PM ET
Last Updated: Mar 25, 2011 2:25 PM ET
Need to Know
- MPs to vote on non-confidence in government
- PM to speak in the foyer of House
- Ignatieff, Layton to speak after PM
- Campaign could begin Saturday
It's official — the government has fallen from power, clearing the way for a spring election.
The opposition Liberals, NDP and Bloc Québécois came together Friday afternoon in an historic vote to say they no longer have confidence in the Conservative government. The non-confidence vote automatically sparks an election after five years of Conservative minority rule.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper immediately rose to ask that the House be adjourned.
Harper was expected to speak in the foyer of the House of Commons within minutes of the adjournment.
He is also expected to go to Rideau Hall Saturday morning to ask Governor General David Johnston to formally dissolve Parliament. As soon as he does that, candidates will hit their local neighbourhoods and the party leaders will fan out across the country to ask voters to send them back to Parliament.
Only five other non-confidence votes have happened in Canada's history, according to information on the Library of Parliament website. This is the first time it has occurred because a majority of MPs voted that they believed the government was in contempt of Parliament.
In the moments before the vote, many opposing MPs, including Harper and Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff shook hands.
Ignatieff had kicked off debate earlier Friday, urging MPs to defeat the government.
"A government that breaks the rules and conceals the facts from the Canadian people does not deserve to remain in office," he said.
The motion says the House agrees with a Commons committee report tabled earlier this week that found the government in contempt of Parliament, "which is unprecedented in Canadian parliamentary history, and consequently the House has lost confidence in the Government."
Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff said the Conservative government had lost the confidence of the House of Commons, as he speaks in support of a motion to defeat the government Friday. Adrian Wyld/Canadian PressNDP Leader Jack Layton and Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe say they support the Liberal motion. The three parties combined have enough votes to bring down the government and plunge Canadians into an election.
Speaking for the Tories, Government House Leader John Baird said the opposition is ending the work of a Parliament that's gotten a lot done recently.
"The Liberal members over there claimed to have found that the government has done something wrong," Baird said. "What they aren't telling Canadians is that this was an opposition-stacked committee who used the tyranny of the majority to get the predetermined outcome they wanted."
Earlier this week, the procedure and House affairs committee tabled a report that said the government is in contempt of parliament for refusing to supply enough information on the cost of the F-35 fighter jets, their justice system reforms and their projections for corporate profits and tax rates.
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