Canada's shaky minority Liberal government lost a vote of confidence last night, ending a 17-month stay in office that was largely overshadowed by a patronage scandal.
Prime Minister Paul Martin quickly announced he would visit Governor General Michaelle Jean - the representative of head of state Queen Elizabeth - this morning to ask her to dissolve Parliament and set an election date.
It is understood Mr Martin will call the vote for January 23rd, setting the scene for the country's first winter campaign in more than 25 years.
Conservative leader Stephen Harper
Opposition legislators, who voted 171-133 to bring down what they describe as a corrupted government, cheered when the results were declared.
Recent opinion polls show the most likely result is another minority Liberal government, which will again be forced to rely on support from other parties to stay in power.
Mr Martin, a former popular finance minister, took over as prime minister in December 2003 and ran into trouble in February 2004 when it was revealed that 100 million
Canadian dollars (€72 million) in government advertising and sponsorship contracts had been funneled to Liberal-friendly firms for little or no work.
Mr Martin lost his parliamentary majority in the June 2004 election amid widespread anger over the scandal.
The opposition said the scandal - still one of the main driving forces in Canadian politics - was the main reason they pressed for a quick election.
"This is not just the end of a tired, directionless scandal-clad government. It's the start of a bright new future for our country," said Conservative leader Stephen Harper.
"We have to clean things up. We have a lot of cleaning up to do," he told cheering legislators.