for steven harper there was a time when he was looked at in a certain way and it wasn't very flattering by many canadians that change is somewhat over the years. every once in awhile with seems it dips back down for him. where it is right now we have to watch some of these plywood caution everybody starting with us not to get too carried away. we've seen them members bouncing a band down. suppose to be another one today that shows the narrow gap than the one that we heard yesterday. these are going to change in the first weeks and ten days. they don't know if the government is defeated and they don't know there's going to be an election in five or six weeks. so, you know, when they start focusing on that we start to see some decisions made and also interest levels are key to all this. >> we are shaking up the water. there's a lot of sand and and we've got to let it settle. i would risk putting another countdown clock and i know peter, you of the countdown clocks and we are looking at an empty podium and folks wonder why we have this dramatic shot of the empty podium? >> after the vote t

s that on monday found the minority conservative government of prime minister steven harper in contempt of parliament for failing to provide the estimated costs for a number of spending programs. >> the budget table this week by the minister of finance, the next phase of canada's economic action plan is critically important to complete canada's economic recovery. its contents not only reflected the wide input of canadians including the input of other political parties. it has the strong support of canadians. >> all that needs to happen now is for canada's parliament to be officially dissolved and an election date set. having led two minority governments, mr. harper is hoping his party will win a majority. >> the honorable -- >> coming from behind in the opinion polls, former author and broadcaster michael ignaceius will fight his first election as the leader of the main opposition liberal party. >> it's time to change canada's direction. time to get us on the right path. after five years of conservative government, it's time to say enough is enough. enough of the politics of fear. enoug

coverage of the canadian politics continues this afternoon as canadian prime minister steven harper participate in the house of commons question time live beginning at 2:30 p.m. eastern on c-span2. >> author, poet and playwright ishmael reed is on dips -- in depth at noon eastern on april 3rd. net for his satirical approach to american political culture he has written 25 books including airing dirty laundry:another day at the front and barack obama and jim crow media. join our conversation taking phone calls, e-mail and tweets for each nail read at noon eastern on c-span2 and what previous in-depth programs on booktv.org where you find the entire weekend schedule. >> each week while parliament is in session british prime minister david cameron comes to the house of commons to answer questions. following today's half-hour session, the chance -- chancellor will present the annual -- live coverage of the british house of commons. >> cooperation with them. i have met martin callahan, the new commissioner. imac the tee shirt in washington last week and i follow up recent discussions with the ministe

steven harper deserves credit for being a good steward of the economy. this will be the platform they run on, sprinkling out money for families who want to have kids in arts programs. there was targeted money in the budget. it was quite a campaign document. there is also the tone issue that we have to pay attention to it. this last parliament did not have a lot of respect. we heard someone say how hard it was to trust this last parliament. we heard the content. most of this is about content. it will be interesting to see how this plays out and how workable those kinds of attitudes are when the public is asked to listen to the pitch that these party leaders have to make. lot of people have been turned off by what they see and turned off by the overheated rhetoric. it will be interesting to see how the campaign plays on that. >> we are hearing about liberal derek lee deciding not to run. rosemary, we are hearing the buzz. we will see the prime minister speak. what are you learning right now? >> there were a couple of empty chairs during the critical vote.

canadian prime minister steven harper presents his budget plan to the house of commons this afternoon. live coverage as the prime minister answers questions about his proposal at 2:15 eastern. he needs at least one of the three opposition parties to support the government or his government could be dissolved by a vote of no confidence. >> we started whining about japanese. japanese will take us over. we thought we would defeat them in the second world war. they're taking us over in 1970. what is going to happen to america? they will own our country. that's it. we're all out of jobs. then we start whining about the mexicans. we're losing all manufacturing to mexico. look what is taking place. we can not compete, we can't do this, we can't do this. now we're forgetting about mexico and we're whining about chinese and indians. we're a country of whiners. that is all we are. we should have enough confidence we can compete with people if we all sacrifice a little bit. for the common good. >> watch this event from wheaton college, in illinois, tonight 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span2. >> yester

commons today passed a no-confidence motion on the government of conservative party prime minister steven harper bertino down the government and triggering an election in may. mr. harper served as the prime minister since 2006 although his party has always been in the minority. now coverage of the vote from the canadian network cbc. this is just under an hour and a half. >> you are looking at a live shot of the hill everybody on the inside is not nearly as stately and, as it looks like on the outside their waiting for a historic confident over issue of content that will make history. i want to bring a special welcome to our viewers on any network in the great provinces of saskatchewan. and alberto. welcome. as we head for an election it will hinge on what you are about to see in a matter of minutes ahead. we are waiting for the speaker of the house and the longest serving speaker to re-enter the house. but he will then do now is preside over this motion of non-confidence of the liberals brought forward earlier this week. that will eventually sign to the government in contempt of parliament for t