www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,176982,00.html
Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin dissolved the House of C ommons Tuesday and elections were set following Parliament's vote of no confidence in the government.
Governor-General Michaelle Je an, representative of head of state Queen Elizabeth, and announced that she had granted his request to dissolve Parliament and that the election would be on Jan. The election will be held for all 308 seats in the lower House of Commons .
Recent p olls have given the Liberals a slight lead over the Conservatives, with the New Democrats in third place. The same surveys suggest the Bloc Quebecois would sweep the French-speaki ng province of Quebec, making a majority government unlikely no matter w hich party wins the most seats. Martin has had frosty relations with the White House, standing by the Lib eral Party decision not to support the US invasion of Iraq. He also de clined to join in Washington's continental ballistic missile shield -- i nfuriating the Bush administration -- has been called weak on terrorism and was vocal in his opposition of high US tariffs on Canadian lumber.
Advertise Here His push to legalize gay marriage throughout Canada also raised the hackl es of Republicans south of the 49th parallel, but Martin is widely respe cted worldwide for Canada's neutrality and open arms toward immigrants a nd minorities. Canada's Conservatives, by contrast, are seen as much more receptive to i mproving relations with Washington, though a majority of Canadians oppos ed the war in Iraq and the policies of President Bush.
Stephen Harper favors tax cuts and opposed Martin's successful bill to legalize same-sex marriage throughout Canada . He would become prime minister if the Conservatives receive the most s eats in Parliament. "This is not just the end of a tired, directionless, scandal-plagued gove rnment," Harper said after Monday's vote. "It's the start of a bright ne w future for this country."
An initial investigation absolved Martin of wrongdoing, but accused senio r Liberal members of taking kickbacks and misspending tens of millions o f dollars in public funds. The government ran into peril this month when it lost the support of the New Democratic Party, whose backing earlier this year helped Martin esca pe a previous no-confidence motion by a single vote. New Democrat leader Jack Layton said he had not received enough assurances the Liberal Part y would fight the increased use of private health care in Canada. Martin appears prepared to take his chances with a holiday campaign and b lamed his opponents for any inconvenience to the predominantly Christian electorate. The prime minister had promised to call an election within 30 days of the release of a follow-up report on the corruption scandal. Although no formal agreement is in place, all the parties are likely to a gree to a pause in the campaign around the Christmas and New Year holida ys. The campaign is expected to start Tuesday, after Parliament is disso lved. Unemployment in Canada is at a 30-year low and Canada runs a budget surpl us. Andrew Stark, a political science professor at the University of Toronto, maintained that the campaign would not be decided until the final days. Stark, however, believes the Conservatives will win a minority governme nt if Canadians view another Liberal and New Democrat coalition as being unaccountable with tax money. The last time a Canadian political campaign coincided with the holiday se ason was in 1979, when Joe Clark's minority Conservative government was toppled just weeks before Christmas. That vote was delayed until Februar y, however, when Pierre Trudeau and the Liberals took back Parliament. The latest collapse comes 17 months after an election that turned a Liber al majority into a fragile minority on June 28, 2004.
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