An election post-mortem
There are three things you can count on happening in the coming days: (1) The Toronto Maple Leafs will lose a hockey game; (2) Winter jackets will replace bathing suits in Ontario; (3) Stephane Dion will step down (be forced out) as Liberal leader.

Try as some Liberals might to put a good spin on Tuesday's election results ("Stephen Harper didn't get a majority"; "Most of the 416 area stayed Liberal red"), there is no disguising the fact that Dion, as leader, was an unmitigated disaster.

Despite two years of trying, Liberal party strategists couldn't convince voters that Dion wasn't a nerdy professor who struggled speaking this nation's primary language. He was doomed to failure.

As the world economic struggle muscled its way to the forefront of the campaign, many voters began to lean towards Harper and the Conservatives, forcing Dion and the Liberals to shuffle their much-vaunted, but ill-conceived and ill-timed, Green Shift plan to the backburner. A stronger than usual showing by the NDP and Jack Layton, coupled with Green Party leader Elizabeth May squeezing her way into the debates, only added to the Liberals' woes.

While the knives are certainly out for Dion, what about the other leaders? The Bloc's Gilles Duceppe is hardly worth mentioning and the Greens failed to win a seat. Layton has likely bought himself time with a good campaign that saw the NDP gain seats and popular vote- but still finish fourth.

Prime Minister Harper once again has been given the keys to the car but voters will not allow him to drive it unsupervised. Surely, in these uncertain economic conditions it would be in Harper's- and the country's- best interests for him to make a concerted effort to work with the other parties in ensuring Canada ride out this storm.

Showing he can lead effectively, without the partisan gamesmanship he seems to enjoy, may eventually lead him to the majority he covets, but has yet to earn.