The Parliamentary squabbling continued Thursday after the Liberals brushed aside a motion meant to dismantle the minority government in a matter of weeks.

On Thursday, the Speaker of the House endorsed a Conservative Party effort to hold a vote of confidence in the government by May 18.

The Tory-sponsored motion asked the Commons Finance committee "to recommend that the government resign."

But House Leader Tony Valeri shrugged it off, saying the motion is only a procedural matter that has no binding effect on the government and that the Liberals would not step down from power if it should pass.

"There is no non-confidence motion," Valeri said after the House speaker ruled the motion to be in order. "This is merely an instruction to a committee."

The Conservatives are determined to topple a government reeling from the sponsorship scandal, and force an election as soon as possible.

The Conservatives and the Bloc Quebecois maintained that if the Speaker of the House approved the motion, it would be a clear expression that Parliament has lost confidence in the government and would make an election necessary.

"If a motion passes . . . that clearly says the government should resign, how could they say that's not confidence?" said Conservative House Leader Jay Hill.

Bloc House Leader Michel Gauthier called Valeri's position on the motion "shameful" and "pitiful."

"You can't have more of a confidence motion than this one," he said. "I can't sincerely believe there's not at least one person in that government with enough honour to say, 'Look, they've just asked us to resign. Let's stop, it's pitiful, we're clinging (to power).'"

The Liberals appear to be running out of room to manoeuvre, and will likely face a confidence test by late June -- either in the form of a budget vote or a confidence motion.

If the government falls, it would have to call an election at least 36 days later.

In any case, the current Parliament is at a standstill with a government doing everything in its power to stay alive; while the Tories and Bloc look for every opportunity to bring it down.

Dangerous ground

Political experts told The Canadian Press that the government wouldn't be forced to resign if they lost the vote on Thursday's Tory motion.

But they all agreed that the government would be treading on dangerous ground by ignoring the vote result.

"The prime minister can say it's not a confidence motion because it doesn't say 'confidence,'" Ned Franks, professor emeritus at Queen's University, told CP.

"But to put it another way: This is where the flying excrement intersects with a rotating propeller.

"It's a pretty serious loss of face. . . . What the opposition could do then is just prevent Parliament from working, saying 'You have no legitimacy. Call an election.'"

But with few legal precedents to offer clarity to this latest parliamentary debacle, the two sparring sides might have to look to Rideau Hall.

"This could end up in the lap up of the Governor General when this is done," said Globe and Mail political columnist John Ibbitson.

"It's an extraordinary thing if the House passes a motion that says we do not have confidence in this government," he added, "and then the government says that it refuses to accept that motion."

With a report from The Canadian Press