The non-confidence vote against the Liberals has passed 171-133. Canadians will be voting circa January 23. (Globe and Mail story, Toronto Star, CBC)

For the uninitiated: In June of last year, the Liberal Party of Canada went from a majority government to a minority government, not long after ex-Prime Minister Jean Chrétien stepped down. They’re now under Paul Martin. For the last several months, the Chrétien government (under most of which Martin was Finance Minister) was under investigation for a sponsorship scandal, accused of doling out illegal funds to various Liberal campaigns during the late 1990s. At the end of the investigation–known as the Gomery Inquiry or Commission–all the blame was put on Chrétien, while Martin had no blame placed on him. On US Thanksgiving Day, Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper introduced the non-confidence motion, with support from the New Democrats and the Bloc Quebecois (the Bloc website is in French).

This marks the only time a Canadian government has fallen due to a non-confidence vote. Wikipedia already has an election section going.