So what was that all about?
An unnecessary election produced a stronger Conservative minority government, which is not quite what Prime Minister Stephen Harper had expected.
Mr. Harper sought and expected a majority. Make no mistake about that, despite his protestations that a minority was all the Conservatives could reasonably expect.
The stars were aligned before the campaign for a majority, but his own errors, the retreat of French-speaking Quebeckers into the embrace of the Bloc Québécois, and the economic tsunami of the last two weeks dashed hopes for a majority government, although he came very close to achieving that objective.
Canadians will now endure or relish – depending on their preference – yet another minority government, with the smaller parties in Parliament stronger and the Liberal Party weaker.
Greens did worse than they had hoped, and leader Elizabeth May failed to win a seat in Nova Scotia. New Democrats got about 20 per cent of the popular vote, a strong showing for them, but failed to reap a harvest of many new seats.
Conservatives will be heartened that they won the most seats, thereby remaining in office, but chastened that they failed to secure a majority.
So what does Canada now face, apart from another minority government of necessarily uncertain duration?
Most obviously, Canadians will see a new Liberal leader, sooner or later. Stéphane Dion's Liberals lost ground in Ontario and British Columbia, and so fell much further behind the Conservatives. The party is weakened financially, beaten politically, and split intellectually.
Liberals gave John Turner two tries in 1984 and 1988; they will probably not be so kind to Mr. Dion, whose support in the caucus is quite thin and whose leadership in the country was widely criticized.
Beyond the Liberals' decision, the country will ask how long will this Parliament last? The last Parliament endured longer than its participants had anticipated, and certainly longer than the Harper Conservatives expected.
Expecting an 18- to 24-month parliamentary life, the Conservatives emptied the cupboard of their electoral promises, which explained in part why in this campaign they had so little to offer.
With a minority Parliament, Canadians can expect more wheeling, dealing, negotiating, intra-party bickering and finger-pointing among the parties. Such is the nature of minority governments, when no previous arrangements have been made among or between parties to co-operate. Such will especially be the nature of this minority government with severe economic dislocations ahead and cavernous divergences among parties as to what remedies are required.
Indeed, the slightly improved results for the NDP and another strong showing by the Bloc Québécois will embolden them to believe their policy prescriptions were endorsed by more voters than ever.
Their challenge, or dilemma, will be to determine the degree to which they should compromise their platforms in the interests of avoiding another election that very few Canadians will want, versus the strong desire of their advocates to insist on the wisdom and urgency of what they offered in the campaign.
Then, there is the economic tsunami. No one knows if the worst is over, but considerable damage has been done to the U.S. (and world) economy, damage from which Canada cannot remain immune.
The borrowings, uncertainties, and the considerable pain should mean the eventual bonfire of the election promises for all parties – although that opposition parties, not required to govern, will be reluctant to modify their electoral nostrums.
The Conservatives, as government, will have no choice but to confront the gap between reality and their promises. One of their first decisions will be whether to run a deficit, despite electoral promises to balance the books. Having all but eliminated the fiscal cushion designed to protect the budget against economic shocks, the government might have to incur a deficit or cut spending in a much more serious fashion than anything done since 2006.
