Prime Minister Paul Martin was expected to ask Canada's de facto head of state, Governor General Michaelle Jean, to dissolve parliament and set an election date yesterday, a day after the opposition ousted his scandal-tainted minority government.
Martin's Liberal Party lost a censure vote by 171 votes to 133 late on Monday in the House of Commons amid acrimonious exchanges over corruption allegations.
An election will be held on Jan. 23, according to some reports.
PHOTO: AFP
"This has been an historic evening in this parliament in this country," said Conservative leader Stephen Harper, Martin's chief rival. "This is not just the end of a tired, directionless, scandal-plagued government. It's the start of a bright new future for this great country."
Martin defiantly told Liberal members of parliament: "We will win" the election.
"We are entering this campaign with a strong balance sheet and we can be proud of it. Our economy is a strong one with the lowest rate of unemployment in Canada for the past 30 years," he said.
The censure vote came after Martin rejected an opposition ultimatum to promise to dissolve parliament in January. He had instead offered an election in March or April, after the release of a final report on a funding scandal that has engulfed his Liberal party.
New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton withdrew his support for the Liberals soon after the release of a damning preliminary report on the scandal earlier this month.
The Liberals are accused of receiving kickbacks from advertising firms awarded millions of dollars in government contracts from 1995 to 2002, when Jean Chretien was prime minister.
Martin was finance minister at the time, but was exonerated by a judicial inquiry. Still, the scandal cost the Liberals a fourth consecutive majority government when an election was held last year.
Most now predict another Liberal minority government, including two of Canada's most influential conservative leaders, Alberta Premier Ralph Klein and former prime minister Joe Clark.
But with the Conservatives close behind in opinion polls, the last days of Martin's Liberal government have been marked by threats of lawsuits and ugly rhetoric that has pundits predicting a vicious election campaign.
The Liberals have threatened to sue Conservative members of parliament for "false smears" that linked the party to organized crime.
Harper has called the Liberals a party "found guilty of breaking every conceivable law in the province of Quebec with the help of organized crime."
The Liberal leader in the House, Tony Valeri, shot back, accusing the Conservatives of offering "half truths and innuendo" while others peddled insults such as "sleazebag" and "anti-immigrant" to describe their opponents.
Both sides predicted worse to come.
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