What is a vote of no confidence in Canada?

A vote of no confidence (also called a non-confidence motion or motion of want of confidence) is a formal motion in the House of Commons declaring that the government no longer has the confidence of the elected chamber. The constitutional consequence of a successful non-confidence vote is binary: the government must either resign (allowing the Governor General to appoint a new Prime Minister who can command confidence) or advise the Governor General to dissolve Parliament for a new federal election. Non-confidence votes are the principal tool by which the House of Commons enforces the responsible-government principle.

Non-confidence motions can take several forms. Explicit non-confidence motions specifically state that the House no longer has confidence in the government. Amendments to the Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne can express non-confidence through criticism of the government's agenda. Defeat of major government bills (especially budget bills) is a form of non-confidence by convention. The government can also designate a particular vote as a matter of confidence, transforming an ordinary vote into a confidence vote.

Successful federal non-confidence votes in Canadian history include the December 13, 1979 defeat of Joe Clark's Conservative minority government on its first Budget (the closest Canada has come to a clear-cut budget-driven non-confidence outcome); the November 28, 2005 defeat of Paul Martin's Liberal minority government on a non-confidence motion (the sponsorship-scandal trigger); and the March 25, 2011 defeat of Stephen Harper's Conservative minority government on a contempt of Parliament motion (a finding that the government had violated parliamentary privilege by withholding documents). Each was followed by a federal election and a change of government.

Non-confidence votes are rare in Canadian federal politics. About 5 per cent of Parliaments since 1867 have ended with non-confidence-vote losses. Most Parliaments end either with the Prime Minister advising dissolution at a politically convenient time (seeking a renewed mandate) or with the Parliament reaching its constitutional five-year maximum term. Provincial Legislative Assemblies have similar non-confidence mechanisms; provincial governments have lost non-confidence votes at various points (notably the 2017 BC Liberal government's defeat on a confidence vote, leading to the BC NDP-Green coalition under Premier John Horgan). In a minority government, non-confidence votes are an ever-present possibility, requiring the governing party to maintain opposition support on every major vote.