The Conservatives say it's unlikely they'll try again to topple the government this spring or summer, after falling one crucial vote short in the House of Commons on Thursday.

Deputy Conservative Leader Peter MacKay told Canada AM another confidence motion is not in the works.

"It's not likely," he said.

Still, MacKay said "the vote last night proves this parliament is still very, very precarious."

And he said his party would continue to keep the heat on the Liberals, who, he says, "raised the temperature around the House of Commons" in the past few weeks.

Things reached a boiling point Thursday, when the Tories and the Bloc Quebecois tried -- but failed -- to vote down the government in a crucial confidence vote.

It all came down to a vote on Bill C-48. That was the new multibillion-dollar spending package that had been added on to the federal budget bill, and had been negotiated with the Liberals by NDP Leader Jack Layton.

The combination of the Liberals, the NDP, and Independent MP Carolyn Parrish resulted in 151 votes. Independent MP Chuck Cadman also voted with the yes side, bringing the vote to 152.

But, after the Conservatives, the Bloc Quebecois and Independent MP David Kilgour voted, the numbers were tied at 152.

Speaker of the House Peter Milliken was left to make the final, deciding vote in favour of the government.

Confidence logjam

It was the first time in Canada's history that a Speaker had to step in to break a parliamentary logjam on a confidence matter.

The vote carried 153-152, meaning the Liberal government will stand, for now.

The Opposition's next opportunity to try to topple the government will come in an opposition day slated for May 31.

But, speaking with CTV Newsnet, CTV's Ottawa Bureau Chief, Robert Fife, downplayed expectations of a repeat play of this past week's events.

"They will make all the effort to try to pretend that they're going to bring down the government, but it's not going to happen," Fife said.

"The willpower to bring down the government has absolutely been zapped."

On Friday, MacKay slammed the government for its actions in the lead-up to the vote, and how the Liberals "went to work trying to pick off various members of (our) caucus."

MacKay was referring to allegations the Liberals tried to woo Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal and his wife, Nina, also an MP, with patronage posts in exchange for their sitting out the vote.

The prime minister hotly denied that charge in Parliament. "No such offers were made," Paul Martin said Thursday.

MacKay was also alluding to the defection from the Conservatives of Belinda Stronach this past week.

Stronach, who had been dating MacKay, stunned Ottawa on Tuesday when she crossed the floor, joined the Liberals and took on a cabinet job as Minister of Human Resources.

When asked on Canada AM if it was tough to see Stronach facing him across the floor of the House of Commons, MacKay said: "Of course it was," adding, "I've had better days."

MacKay said his party will now focus on the work of Parliament that still has to be done in the coming weeks.

More legislation

"There's more legislation to come through," he said.

"We have a responsibility as the official Opposition."

Legislation that is still in the works includes same-sex marriage, a move to ease marijuana laws, and toughening child pornography laws.

Addressing the boisterous Liberal caucus moments after the vote Thursday evening, Martin emphasized the point.

"We have to bring the House back to being a place where the important debates can take place once again," he said in French.

Speaking to a crowd of cheering party faithful, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper expressed his disappointment.

"While tonight's vote is an unfortunate result for the country at this moment, it will also provide us with persuasive arguments for change when Canadians finally and inevitably head to the polls," he said.

"We may have lost tonight's battle, but you've done it in order to win the war," he told his caucus shortly after the vote Thursday.

In his own comments outside the House, Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe said his party will now stop trying to topple the government.

"We will be respecting the vote, we won't do like the Liberals have done," he told reporters. "The procedural tactics are done for now."