Canadian government toppled by non-confidence vote

[martini]

No, vote of no confidence is not like an impeachment in the US. [snip]

As you know, the "vote of no confidence" may be called due to shady behavior as well, but it can also be called based on sheer incompetence.  We have no real  analogue for the "you're fired because your policies and decisions are appalling and we have no confidence that you'll get smarter soon enough to unscrew the mess you have made.  We (the majority vote) all agree that you suck irrecoverably at this governing thing." 

Impeachment for incompetence-absent-illegal-behavior is not an option.  (Awaits torrent of GWB jokes)  Incompetence is usually worked around, or the office holder involved is induced, by his own party, to GTFO for the good of the party.  Or not.

The party that has been asked by the GG to form the government can get rid of the Prime Minister in a similar fashion, by asking him (or her) to resign as leader of the party.

If one is looking for a US parallel, the vote of no confidence is more similar to the recent California Recall vote vis a vis Governor Gray Davis -- which then led to the Governator -- than it is to impeachment. 

They are all similar in that each is a political tool, and is thus driven by political agendas.  Big surprise there.  :o

Occhi
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I'm not sure that there is a US parallel... if the issue was decided by the voters, rather than by the political parties, the government likely would have stood. This is the big difference between the 2-party system and a multi-party parliament, that it's possible for parliament to fail to form, or to dissolve, purely due to political expediency and for no real reason whatsoever. I guess the only thing that would be similar in the US would be if the majority leader found that a significant number of the members of his party were voting against the party line, so that the government couldn't get anything carried. The impossibility of a minority government in a 2-party system really makes finding an analogy for this situation difficult.

I still can't figure out why the Conservatives and NDP were so keen on toppling the government now. Polls are showing that we'll almost certainly get the same result (Libearl minority government) and I can't see the NDP having more power than they just gave up (barganing power, given the Liberals' need of NDP votes to stay in power). I suspect that only the Party Quebecois will really gain any momentum here. Was it so hard for the Conservatives to accept the Liberals calling the election on their own?

Agreed. I think that Stephen Harper's horror at the sponsorship issue is disingenuous, and he's been looking at his best chance to grasp at power ever since the last election, and he thinks that this is it. Fighting on the side of change is a plus for him, since Canadians will throw out the government just to throw it out sometimes, we're capricious. :) But it seems like the Liberals are trying to push the Conservative = Socially Conservative button that got them to come out on top last time, we'll see if it has a similar result this time around. Harper has already stated that he wants to re-open the same sex marriage issue.

Paul Martin's position is difficult, but he's still ahead in the polls, and he was personally exonorated by the Gomery report, although that doesn't seem to stop the opposition. The recent Liberal spending spree was a little conspicuous, but so was the Conservatives' deputy saying that he would have spent on those programs too.

For the NDP, I don't see what Jack Layton's motivation was here... he basically had Paul Martin over a barrel, and managed to force the Liberals to support NDP ideals in the last government. I think a lot of NDP voters might do the same as they did in the last election: vote Liberal in fear of Stephen Harper.

The Bloc probably will pick up some ground in this election, which is funny, since the sponsorship scandal was a Quebec issue. What extra BQ seats will mean for the running of parliament, and the sovereignty debate, I shudder to think.

Most people that I talk to don't really see the need for this election, and in reading the media coverage, it seems like a straight-out rewind of the last election. I'm not sure what we can gain by this, if anything.