I disagree with Warren Kinsella on a number of things, not least of all his amazing appetite for political sour grapes. But Kinsella did hit the nail on the head when he linked the Gomery Commission to the Liberal's reduced electoral fortunes. I imagine Martin conceiving Gomery as a sort of political catharsis, revealing so much brutal detail that it would cleanse the public of their mistrust of the Natural Ruling Party. Instead, it repeatedly reminded voters (particularly in Quebec) of the necessity of periodic political change to limit overt corruption. I don't know what impact it might have had on the outcome yesterday, but people's perception of the Liberal brand would have been different if the RCMP had simply been allowed to do their work, creating a narrative about bad people rather than about a bad party.

Canada's main political alternative yesterday, Stephen Harper's Conservatives, were not the most palatable of choices. It's telling that even after a steady campaign, a sympathetic media, and an underperforming Liberal administration, the Tories could still only muster a weak minority. Harper's shift to the political middle hasn't been at all that convincing to those of us who keep track of him, and it's easy to imagine things getting tough when his base begins to make noises about abortion, same-sex marriage, and a number of other things.

Despite his minority in the House, Harper will make an immediate impact through the hundreds of appointments he will make to the senior bureaucracy and the government's various commissions and panels. There will be a number of policy shifts in a wide variety of areas, from broadcasting policy to immigration to workplace safety, that might slip under most people's radar.