A glass half-full

Almost 2/3 of those Canadians who voted did not mark their ballots for a Stephen Harper prime ministership.

The Conservative party has to remember that as they move forward. In my view, they need to stick to their big five priorities and those five priorities only: the accountability act, GST reductions, criminal justice reforms, the wait-times guarantee, and the choice in child-care program. That's it. Social issues like gay marriage are clearly off the table, as Canadians have signalled that they want to maintain the status quo. He will also have to be careful to not look like he is too cozy with the White House.

What he has to do is keep his caucus focused and not have them veer off in a million different directions. That is going to be his biggest challenge. This election and the one in June 2004 have shown that the majority of Canadians don't really care about corruption and rot if it implies that big, statist, activist government will be reined in as a tradeoff. Harper has been given a tight leash by Canadians and so he'll have to tread carefully given the lukewarm endorsement that he's received.