Joe Clark

Despite Andrew Scheer's supposedly human face, don't bet the urban farm on him or his Conservative Party getting very far on the strength of a nice smile.

The Conservatives chose Andrew Scheer as a compromise, supposedly inoffensive candidate, as they did Joe Clark in 1976. But Scheer would mean a return to Harper policies Canadians rejected in 2015.

Alberta political strategist Stephen Carter noted his intention to support potential candidate Sandra Jansen with this zinger: "I want to kick the shit out of Jason Kenney."

Five attempted coups against Alberta political parties in the space of a year and half strongly suggests we are witnessing a real phenomenon.

A lot of the New Democrats who gathered in Edmonton yesterday appear to be in a mood to smash some crockery. Enough aren't, though, to keep it interesting.

The first-past-the-post system makes the changes look more dramatic, but in real terms, Canada didn't lurch to the left, it eased back toward the centre.

You can make a case the PCs enjoyed the best news of the night. They were supposed to be deader than the proverbial mackerel and yet they polled almost as strongly as the NDP.

Could Prime Minister Stephen Harper be asking, this time, too much of an electorate he treats like a bunch of dummies? Naw… What could possibly go wrong?