Liberals file no-confidence motion

The Liberal Party filed a notice of motion of no-confidence Monday because it no longer trusts the Conservative minority government, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said.

But it appears the motion won't pass a vote, likely Thursday, because NDP Leader Jack Layton said his party will back the government, guaranteeing the Tories' survival.

The Liberal move came after Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivered an economic report in Saint John, N.B. earlier in the day.

Harper said 90 per cent of the stimulus funding has been pledged for more than 7,500 infrastructure and housing projects.

This is the third economic update since the Conservatives agreed to issue quarterly reports in exchange for Liberal support for the Jan. 27 budget.

Accountability was an absolute necessity for the Liberals to continue supporting the government and that has not happened, Ignatieff told reporters outside the House of Commons.

"Two weeks ago, they let slip out that they're going to boost payroll taxes. Today, they came out and said 90 per cent of their projects have been committed … and the reality we've found is only 12 per cent of their infrastructure money has actually got in to shovels in the ground," Ignatieff said.

"So the issue for us is just basic trust with what this government is saying to us. We're tired of this kind of game-playing. We wanted real accountability. We wanted a government that tells Canadians the truth. We've had enough."

But Layton said supporting the government was the only way to ensure speedy passage of legislation extending EI benefits for the unemployed.

In another scrum with reporters outside the House, Transport Minister John Baird defended the government's record on stimulating the economy by clarifying the 90 per cent figure mentioned by Harper.

"We're not talking about exclusively infrastructure. We're talking about the tax measure. We're talking about the credit facilities that the minister has put in … We're talking about the knowledge infrastructure," he said.

"The 90 per cent is the [economic] action plan of which the stimulus program is an important part but not all of it by any means."

As for the Liberals' attempt to topple the government with its no-confidence motion, Baird said, "I haven't met a single Canadian that wants to go to an election or thinks that it's in the country's best interests."

"If you look at the budget we brought forward in January, it was a budget that recognized we were in a minority parliament … It's difficult, but we're trying not to be sidetracked by the political games going on by the Liberals, because Canadians don't want it."