Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government received a vote of "no confidence" from all 156 members of the opposition meaningthat parliament will now be dissolved and newelections scheduled:

It was also a motion that declared the government to be in contempt of Parliament for its refusal to shareinformation that opposition members said they needed to properly assess legislation put before them...

The Conservative Leader said Canada's economic turnaround would remain his priority and that of his candidates. There was nothing in the budget tabled earlier this week, he said, that the opposition parties should have objected to.

"Unfortunately, Mr. Ignatieff and his coalition partners in the NDP and Bloc Quebecois made abundantly clear that they had already decided they wanted an election instead, Canada's fourth election in seven years, an election Canadians had told them clearly that they did not want," he said. "Thus the vote today, which obviously disappoints me, and will, I suspect, disappoint most Canadians"

The Liberal Leader said Mr. Harper confirmed his disrespect for democracy by speaking after the vote but making no mention of the fact that his government had just been found in contempt of Parliament and taking no questions from reporters. "This tells you all you need to know about this man," he

******************

This bodes no fast action on the ROF. Politics first.

Don Jose de La Mancha