[nass]

We had a minority Government, meaning that the Liberals ( the party in power ) didn't really have total power in the house. The opposition ( Conservatives, NDP etc. ) had the chance to have a confidence vote meaning that if they can muster up more votes against the Liberals than the Liberals can get for themselves there would be an election called which is what happened.

So pretty much was 2001_ZTS said the confedence vote was against the current government and not the actual leader. If this election gives us another minority government then it will all be nothing but a waste of tax payer money and everyone's time.