I majored in history with a focus on Canadian history, but even I find our parliamentary system awfully confusing at times. This is one such instance.
The House of Commons passed a motion by 153 votes to 150 tonight that calls on the public accounts committee "to recommend that the government resign." That's rather loose language, isn't it? There certainly isn't anything binding there. If my knowledge is correct, a minority government falls when it loses a vote of confidence. The Liberals lost tonight's vote, but this vote wasn't a vote of confidence. The Conservative party can introduce such a vote on an opposition day, the next ones being three days at the end of this month.
So, the House has voted "to recommend that the government resign" and the Prime Minister is choosing to ignore the vote. No doubt, on the next opposition day, Stephen Harper will introduce a formal vote of confidence that would force an election. We could be back at the polls this summer and you know this one is going to be a nail biter.
Who says Canadian politics is boring?
