The fractious state of the country in terms of party support from coast to coast is now more apparent than ever following the federal election.
Justin Trudeau may have returned the Liberals to office, but received less of the popular vote than Progressive Conservative rival Andrew Scheer. There is now a wide swath all the way from Winnipeg to Coquitlam without a single Liberal representative.
The Bloc Quebecois has risen again from obscurity, mainly due to the Liberals falling out of favour considerably in Quebec. The Prairies are almost completely coloured Conservative blue.
Ontario has largely maintained its support for the Liberals or Trudeau would have been kicked to the street.
It’s all going to create a very interesting four years - or less, perhaps much less - before the next election.
The bottom line seems to be most Canadians really didn’t know which party was deserving of their vote. The New Democratic Party lost considerable ground despite the charismatic efforts of leader Jagmeet Singh, the Green Party has failed to gain any momentum and the People’s Party of Canada has gone nowhere fast.
There is a real opportunity in this country for the right party, with the right platform and leader, to gain widespread support. Who that’s going to be remains a mystery.
Trudeau, as Scheer continually points out, is clearly on notice. This was his election to lose and if there was anyone else who captured the attention of the electorate, it would have happened.
All we can do now is wait and see how things play out with the parties and a potential coalition to deal with the hard-line topics of the economy and climate change - although Trudeau denies at this point, at least, that any coalition will happen.
With the contentious Trans Mountain pipeline, Trudeau has already said profits from it will go toward reducing our greenhouse gas emissions. Isn’t that a clear contradiction?
It’s those types of political statements that have disillusioned Canadians so no one trusts any party to make meaningful decisions.