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Ex Prime Minister Harper must now call an election after he lost his job today. MP Harper must now see the Governor General on Saturday and Announce he lost and will call a new election on Saturday. Election is suspected to be in the next 60 days
It’s official — the government has fallen from power, clearing the way for a spring election.

The opposition Liberals, NDP and Bloc Québécois came together Friday afternoon in a historic vote to say they no longer have confidence in the Conservative government.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper addressed reporters after the vote and said he would meet with the Governor General on Saturday “to inform him of the situation and to take the only course of action that remains,” referring to the dissolution of Parliament and an immediate election campaign.

Harper began his remarks by saying that while Canada’s economic recovery has been strong, the global economy is still fragile.

“The budget presented this week by the minister of finance, the next phase of Canada’s Economic Action Plan, is critically important,” Harper said.

“There’s nothing — nothing — in the budget that the opposition could not or should not have supported. Unfortunately Mr. Ignatieff and his coalition partners, the NDP and the Bloc, had already decided they wanted to force an election instead,” Harper said. “The fourth election in seven years. An election Canadians clearly don’t want.”

“Thus the vote today that disappoints me, will, I expect, disappoint Canadians,” Harper said.

He did not take questions.

Opposition leaders react

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said Harper showed his contempt for democracy by not taking questions.

“We’ve seen an historic moment in our democracy … a prime minister condemned by the chamber for contempt,” Ignatieff said. “He’s lost the confidence of the House of Commons.”

“Over 36 days we’ll present an appeal to Canadians who don’t just want to restrain him but replace him,” Ignatieff said in reference to the campaign.

Ignatieff was repeatedly pressed by reporters to state “yes” or “no” to the question of whether he would seek to form a coalition government in the event of another Conservative minority, but he would only say he was focused on presenting a Liberal alternative to the Conservatives.

“If you vote for the NDP, if you vote for the Bloc, if you vote for the Greens, you will get more of this,” Ignatieff said, gesturing back to the House chamber. “More contempt for democracy, more neglect of the priorities of Canadian families.”

NDP Leader Jack Layton portrayed his party as the alternative to the Conservatives.

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