Canadian leader loses vote, refuses to resign

The Seattle Times:

Prime Minister Paul Martin narrowly lost a vote yesterday in Parliament over his party's mushrooming financial scandal, but the minority government refused to resign. While opposition parties claimed that the vote requires Martin's government to call an election immediately, the prime minister said the vote was not a legally binding vote of confidence and he would not dissolve the government. 'According to experts' opinions, this is a question of procedure, this is not a question of confidence,' Martin said of the 153-150 vote on a motion instructing a parliamentary committee 'to recommend the government resign.' The standoff is likely, at most, to delay an election increasingly being seen as inevitable, analysts said. Martin promised opposition parties yesterday that they would have chances later this month to present a formal no-confidence motion to try to defeat his weakened Liberal Party.

It would seem to me that trying to parse legalities and put off a vote in this matter would be a tactic that is likely to backfire with the electorate.