Canadian government falls in non-confidence vote

November 29, 2005 The Canadian Liberal minority was defeated 171-133 today in a historic vote of non-confidence. The minority government only survived for one year and five months. This is the first time a Canadian government has fallen on a simple vote of no-confidence. As a result of the vote, Prime Minister Paul Martin is expected to ask the governor general Michaëlle Jean to dissolve Parliament Tuesday morning. Expectations are that the election will be held January 23rd 2006 providing a much longer election campaign than usual and only the second wintertime election in Canada's history.

The leaders of all 4 major political parties in Canada made campaign style speeches after the vote. According to mainstream media predictions, the campaign will focus on the major themes contained in the 2004 federal election campaign.

This is the third time many Canadians have gone to the polls in the last 12 months with municipal, provincial and now federal elections being called.