Liberals to unveil non-confidence motion

OTTAWA — The federal Liberal party will release the text Monday afternoon of its non-confidence motion that MPs will be expected to vote on Thursday.

The Liberals want to bring down Prime Minister Stephen Harper's minority government and force a general election but, to do that, MPs from all three opposition parties must vote in favour of the Liberal non-confidence motion. It appears, though, that the NDP will stand with the government Thursday.

Ralph Goodale, the Liberal MP from Saskatchewan and his party's House leader, said the motion to be tabled Monday will be unambiguous.

"We want to play this straightforward, very straight-up," Goodale said.

Harper, speaking to reporters in Saint John, N.B., said he believes it is "unfortunate" that the Liberals decided to vote against his government before even reading the latest update on the implementation of the economic stimulus plan.

""I think Canadians expect better. I think Canadians expect at a time of this kind of economic challenge, they expect members of Parliament of all parties to be hard at work on the economy and not playing those kind of parliamentary games," said Harper.

That update, which Harper released in Saint John, says that the government has now committed 90 per cent of this year's stimulus funding for more than 7,500 infrastructure and housing projects across the country.

The Liberal motion could be as simple as "Be it Resolved that this House has no confidence in the government."

Confidence motions, though, are typically a little longer than that, with a pre-amble that sets out the reasons why the party proposing the motion does not have confidence in the government.

"This government cannot be trusted in terms of its numbers," Liberal MP David McGuinty said Monday morning after meeting with party leader Michael Ignatieff and his closest advisers.

The Bloc Quebecois has already indicated it will vote with the Liberals and against the government on Thursday's vote.

The Liberals believe they can score some political points at the NDP's expense and the wording of their confidence motion is part of the strategy to do just that.

The preamble in the Liberal confidence motion could, for example, indict the government for failing to act on some issues that are core parts of the NDP's agenda, such as more robust employment insurance reform.

Ignatieff said last week he does not want to give the NDP anywhere to "hide."

Brad Lavigne, the NDP's national director, appeared on television shows Sunday saying his party's first priority is to see government legislation that would extend the maximum amount of time some people can receive employment insurance benefits approved by the Commons. That legislation, the government says, would help about 190,000 people who are nearing the end of their benefit period.