The clock is ticking on Parliament Hill today. The opposition desperately want the Libranos out of power (as do the rest of us), and the House Speaker, Peter Milliken, doesn't seem to think the request is so far fetched. So today, sometime around 6pm, they will vote. Technically it is not a confidence vote, but a rose by any other name...

According to Opposition MPs, should Prime Minister Paul Martin's Liberals lose the vote, they could no longer claim the confidence of Parliament and therefore the right to govern.

The Liberals, however, don't share that view.

"There are procedural and constitutional experts that have clearly indicated that procedural motions cannot be confidence motions, and this is an example of exactly that," Liberal House Leader Tony Valeri told reporters on Parliament Hill.

Conservative House leader Jay Hill concedes the move is unconventional, but says his party has been left no choice.

"Although it's a procedural initiative, that's all that was left to us," he told CTV's Canada AM early Tuesday, adding that the Liberals are "clinging to power and simply won't allow the opposition to express a bona fide non-confidence motion."

Regardless, the Liberal government may continue to cling to power, ignoring any and all calls for their resignation. Which, in my opinion, is more of an admission of guilt than anything. By ignoring the will of the house (and the will of Canadians), they are saying that they alone are above the law, above the rules, and are not answerable to the electorate.

Angry has his opinion on how it will play out. I would just like to see the people we've hired to run the country actually run the country! Enough already. Get to work. All this talk and so little work; they're not criminals - they're unions!!

You can see how frustrated the Bloc must be...

Even if the government dismisses opposition non-confidence motions on technicalities, Duceppe said he would press the matter with Governor General Adrienne Clarkson.

To have the French seperatist leader resort to using the Queen's representative to get rid of the Liberals... A last ditch effort to clean house, or an act of hypocrisy? I really don't care, as long as it works!

Cross posted to The Shotgun