CBC: Four years after winning a majority, Harper was out of power completely — replaced by a Liberal majority.
It’s hard to know whether Harper could have avoided defeat by governing more cautiously, but there is probably some reason for the Liberals, if soon freed from the constraints of minority government, to guard against overreach or overconfidence. Voters might not worry too much about how Carney gets his majority, but they likely will care about what he does with it.
If the Liberals do get to a slim majority, what leverage remains in the House of Commons could actually shift to the Liberal backbench — a backbench that has shown itself at various points to possess some amount of independent thought. If the Liberals are sitting at 173 or 174 seats, it would only take two or three backbenchers dissenting to endanger government legislation…