As much as I was dreading this day, because I knew it was coming, things could get worse.
Harper knows full well he's going to have to work with the other parties if he has any hope whatsoever of ever getting a majority government. A couple of things could happen in this scenario as I see it.
1. He could pull off a masterful balancing act, and when the next election rolls around if the country is going well, he'll get his majority.
2. The other parties refuse to work with him. Canadians don't want to go back to the polls anytime soon (Summer 2007 is a good guess), and if Canadians think that the other parties are somehow being self-serving by not working WITH Harper, they could again vote in a Conservative majority to give them a legitimate chance to govern.
Hopefully somewhere over the course of the next 18 months, he stumbles. He didn't at all in his campaign, and I'll give him credit for that. But if he does pull out some serious right wing agenda, we'll go back to a slim Liberal majority, or another Liberal minority next election.
The people of Canada sent a message to the Liberals tonight, but by the same token they sent Harper a message...tread very carefully.
"God Bless Canada"-Stephen Harper, election night 2006.