Non Confidence Vote: Yes 171 No 133.
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. Tuesday morning, Prime Minister Paul Martin went to see Governor General Michaëlle Jean and asked her to dissolve the 38th Parliament.
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.
So, we go to the polls on 23 January 2006. And we will read and hear about 3 million polls on how the parties are doing or not doing. And we listen to endless bickering between the leaders over who forced this election. And we hear promise and after promise - all ripe to be broken or twisted or something.
I remember seeing a cartoon years ago. I pollster comes to the door (does that happen any more?) and asks a question. The person at the door responds: "I haven't read enough polls yet to make up my mind." And that, I think, sadly, is the way many Canadians will make up their mind.
You won't be reading much political stuff here. I do believe that as Christians we need to be informed and we need to participate. I've chosen to keep this blog relatively free from party politics. In the interest of full disclosure, I have voted C in at least one of it's incarnations, Liberal, NDP and Independent. I will not tell people how to vote. I will tell people to vote.
So read (carefully), listen (carefully), ask questions, be informed, vote (vote for the party of your choice | spoil your ballot - which is not a good option since it is not counted | decline you ballot - this gets counted, and so you make a statement that you think none of the candidate are acceptable | you are not allowed to eat your ballot). If you don't vote, you have no right to complain. Check out Elections Canada for information on voting.
3 comments:
1)"The Liberal defeat marks the first time a government has fallen on a straight motion of no-confidence in Parliament."
Does this mean that the government has fallen on a gay motion before?
2) I agree that people should be informed and that we should exercise our right to vote. It bothers me how many people don't bother to pay attention to the political process at all.
Unlike Mike, I will tell people how to vote. It might not be politically correct, but being politically correct isn’t politically correct anyways….
When you vote – Here’s a few questions I woud encourage you to take into consideration:
What party supports your choice on how your raise your kids – giving equal opportunity to those who wish to have one parent stay at home to raise pre-schoolers?
What party supports your view on same sex marriage?
What’s your view on accountability? - Does a party that squandered millions of dollars in kickback and various unknown sponsership activities really deserve to be re-elected? How about that great investment in the gun control program?
And lastly, what’s your view on organized crime?
Enough said – Vote Conservative!
Anybody need a yard sign? – I’ve got connections….
The questions Scott asks are excellent questions - ask them - ask them when your candidate comes to the door - ask them at an "all-candidates" meeting - and don't let them off the hock with vague references - ask for details in their policy
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