Canadians awoke yesterday to the formation of a new Conservative minority government led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Little has changed about a month after the previous minority Conservative government launched national elections. Sure, Westmount-Ville-Marie has a new MP in Liberal Marc Garneau, but nationally Parliament's make-up remains much the same.

The Conservatives gained a paltry 16 seats, rising to a total of 143, whereas the Liberals lost 19, for a total of 76.

In his victory speech, Harper spoke of a "strong mandate" given to him by Canadians two nights ago, but he must have had slightly bigger gains on his mind when he broke his own promise of fixed-election dates by dissolving Parliament in September.

Ironically, he pledged to work together with the other parties in order to ensure the Canadian economy works well in these difficult times. The promise comes off as a little questionable, considering elections that basically got Canada nowhere cost $308 million in taxpayers' money. Furthermore, Harper's alleged reason for "dissolving Parliament" was that it simply was not functional anymore. The Examiner wonders how he will look at essentially that same Parliament in the eye now.

Locally, Garneau did well. Despite a strong fight put up by NDP candidate Anne Lagacé-Dowson, the "star" candidate handily defeated her by capturing 46.53 per cent of the vote in the riding.

Garneau ran a strong campaign too, but one cannot help but feel he won so easily thanks to the strength of the Liberal brand in Westmount-Ville-Marie. And with the Grits losing even more seats in Canada, many have already started to question the relevance of Stéphane Dion's leadership.

This leaves the former astronaut in a tight spot. In 2007, after he was unable to run in Outremont in a by-election against NDP candidate Thomas Mulcair, Garneau publicly cited he had differences of opinion with Dion.

After he announced he was running in this riding in 2008, Garneau never explained exactly what happened for him to see eye to eye again with his leader. Now, in a world where party insiders speak in whispers of trying to oust Dion from his throne, the gravity of the situation cannot simply be ignored by Garneau. A statement of support from an important Liberal victor could probably serve Dion. Considering Garneau's past words, utter silence on the matter could be a condemnation on its own.