Prime Minister Paul Martin announced the election date following the ousting of his government in a no-confidence vote.
Mr Martin spoke after asking Canada's de facto head of state, Governor General Michaelle Jean, to dissolve Parliament and kick off a 56-day election campaign that is likely to be the most vicious in Canadian history and the first over the Christmas holiday in decades.
Mr Martin's Liberal Party lost a censure vote by 171 votes to 133 in the House of Commons amid acrimonious exchanges over corruption allegations.
Polls tip Lib victory
However despite the allegations his party maintains a slight lead over the opposition Conservatives in public opinion polls and many, including two prominent conservative leaders,
former Prime Minister Joe Clark and Alberta Premier, Ralph Klein, predict
another minority Liberal government.
A Research poll for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation gave the Liberals 31 percent support, the Conservatives 26 percent, New Democratic Party (NDP) 17 percent and the separatist Bloc Quebecois, which runs candidates only in the French-speaking province of Quebec, 12 percent, or 50 percent in Quebec.
Another poll for the Globe and Mail newspaper pegged the Liberals at 35 percent, Conservative at 29 percent, the NDP 17 percent and the Bloc Quebecois at 14 percent.
Many now predict that Mr Martin and his main rival, Conservative leader Stephen Harper, will be fighting for their political survival, each facing possible expulsion if their respective parties fail to make gains in this election.
Expectations
The Liberals are hoping to return Mr Martin to Ottawa as head of a majority
government, a prize lost in the last election because of outrage over a funding scandal and infighting between his supporters and former prime minister Jean Chretien loyalists that split the Liberal Party.
The Conservatives are aiming for a chance to govern after previous failed
attempts to win control of the House of Commons, some say because of their
leaders' lagging popularity.
Canada's fractious conservative right however had only just reunited under the Conservative banner a few months prior to the last election, and some observers say they are not yet ready for the fight.
The trigger
Three Canadian minority governments were previously felled by no-confidence
votes, but Mr Martin's Liberals were the first ever to fall on a stand-alone
censure motion.
The motion came after Mr Martin rejected an opposition ultimatum to promise to dissolve Parliament in January.
He had instead pledged to call an election in March or April, 30 days after
the release of a final report on a government funding scandal involving the previous Liberal government.
The Liberals are accused of receiving kickbacks from advertising firms
awarded millions of dollars in government contracts from 1995 to 2002, during the government of then-Prime Minister Jean Chretien, to counter a separatist movement in Quebec.
Mr Martin was finance minister at the time, but was exonerated by a judicial
inquiry. However, the scandal cost the Liberals a fourth consecutive majority
government last year.