( CNN ) -- Canada 's House of Commons voted 156-145 on Friday on a no-confidence resolution aimed at the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper , triggering the dissolution of Parliament and elections in the next few weeks . Liberal party leader Michael Ignatieff sponsored the resolution , citing a recent House committee report that found the government in contempt for failing to provide lawmakers with requested information on its spending plans . `` The principle at stake in this debate goes to the heart of parliamentary democracy : the obligation of a government to provide members of this House with the information they need in order to hold the government accountable to the people of Canada , '' Ignatieff said in prepared remarks introducing the no-confidence resolution . `` We are the people 's representatives . When the government spends money , the people have a right to know what it is to be spent on . This Parliament does not write blank cheques . '' The resolution automatically triggers elections to replace the Conservative-led minority government , which has ruled Canada since 2006 . The motion was ill-conceived , said Government House Leader John Baird , a Tory . `` The Liberal members over there claimed to have found that the government has done something wrong , '' Baird said . `` What they are n't telling Canadians is that this was an opposition-stacked committee who used the tyranny of the majority to get the predetermined outcome they wanted . '' The no-confidence vote was the fifth in Canadian history , according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation .
The House of Commons votes 161 - 0 in favor of a no - confidence motion . The vote means the nation 's Conservative government will be defeated . Elections will be held to elect a new government .