Canada in for some 'interesting' times

It seems that the ruling Liberal party has been tossed out on its ear after a no-confidence vote. BBC News has the story:

Canada's government is thrown out
Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin's government has been ousted in a no-confidence vote.

Canada's three opposition parties united against his Liberal Party, which has been mired in a corruption scandal.

Mr Martin will seek the dissolution of parliament on Tuesday, and a date for a general election - thought likely to be 16 or 23 January.

They had a bit of a scandal a few years ago regarding some $85 USD spent to advertising agencies with nothing to show for it. There are also some issues with kickbacks. Jen's and my two favorite radio stations are Canadian and some of the political news out of there is fascinating. makes the whole King County Monorail and the last Governors election look positively tame by comparison... UPDATE: Did some digging and here are a few "talking points" Before being prime Minister, Mr. Martin was Finance Minister. Under his tenure: He took $30 billion CDN surplus from government union pensions and paid down the deficit. Approximately $100 million CDN went from federal accounts to Liberal party coffers via middlemen. And as P.M.: Various Native American education funds have been used at American casinos and Sea World along with purchases of jewelry and supporting bush league hockey teams. Some lawsuits are ramping up so this is not the time to have this jerk in office. At least, Canada is better than France. Chirac has been convicted and sentenced to jail for corruption and bribery and only a French Law prevents him from being in the slammer right now. Whenever he stops being an elected official in France, that jail term is coming home to roost...