On this date in 2005, Jack Layton's NDP joined with Stephen Harper's Conservatives to bring down the government of Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin.In hindsight, this sometimes seems a curious decision by the NDP as, by their vote against the Martin government, they helped end the national daycare agreement painstakingly negotiated with the provinces by Liberal cabinet minister Ken Dryden.I remember the vote well as I sat in the public gallery with my good friend Peter O’Malley, who had been on hand in 1979 when Prime Minister Joe Clark’s government fell in the Commons. It felt very special to be able to witness with my own eyes such an important historical moment.Canadians were soon in the midst of a federal election and in January 2006, the Martin Liberals were defeated when Mr. Harper won a minority mandate from Canadians.  The Harper years had begun.Here’s a link to the CBC’s coverage of the defeat of the Martin government in the House.[caption id="attachment_228679" align="alignleft" width="625"] Liberal Leader Paul Martin pauses during his speech in Montreal, Jan. 23, 2006. (Jonathan Hayward/CP)[/caption]Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist.  He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy.  A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.