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Perhaps Trump will want to let that sink in. Canadians don’t want to be the 51st state, as Trump argued again in that Truth Social post, and when they want to be led by a governor, they mean a former bank governor.

It wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t the romp to a majority that the Liberals had been led to expect as the early results poured in. But it’s another Liberal government, and that is more of the same in Canada, and that’s a vote against disruption.

Still, for all the stability this result presents to Trump and the rest of the world, the election also ushers in a wave of change to politics in Canada, especially among Conservatives.

After two years of assuming that Pierre Poilievre would easily become the next prime minister, Conservatives are relegated once again to opposition status, where Canadians may have decided they belong. Certainly it can now be said that Poilievre spent too much time telling voters that he was the anti-Liberal champion, and not the prime minister in waiting.

“Too Trumpy,� Poilievre was called by a top adviser to Premier Doug Ford during the campaign. Clearly some key voters across this country, especially in Ontario, agreed with that.

No matter whether Poilievre sticks around or not, it will be a humbled Conservative party that will sit across from the Liberals in the House of Commons when Parliament resumes. And that is very much in keeping with the lessons for all parties over the past few months.

Liberals, for instance, will be feeling victorious in the immediate aftermath of Monday’s results, but they should not forget how much their brand eroded over the past few years. They will have to demonstrate to Canadians that they are indeed different: less preachy, less reactive, more nimble at dealing with tough problems like affordability and the housing crisis.

The other opposition parties have been knocked down a peg too. The New Democrats went into this election boasting that they were the ones who gave Canada dental care and pharmacare in their governing deal with the Liberals. That leverage no longer exists.

As for the Bloc Québécois, there once was real speculation about how the Quebec nationalist party could have ended up as Official Opposition to a weak Conservative minority. As early results toted up, the Bloc was looking at its numbers reduced in the House.

All this humbling stands again in sharp contrast to Trump, who does not appear to have any acquaintance with the concept of humility. Thanks to the president and his tariff and annexation threats, Canada is going through a period of immense national pride. But this was an election that kept the country’s politics in a non-boastful contest for the moderate middle.

It was more than 20 years ago when Liberals were able to pull off a fourth consecutive term in office. That was in 2004, when they also ran a new leader, Paul Martin, to follow on the three wins of Jean Chrétien.

And like Martin, Carney is likely to face a Parliament that’s as fractious and difficult to manage as the last one was.

Trump, though, is obviously the largest and most immediate challenge. Carney and Trump have had one phone call, in which they agreed to review trade and security agreements between the two countries immediately after the election. So one or the other of them may get that process kicked off within days.

But Carney will also have to contend with a strain of deep discontent about the Liberal victory, especially in the West. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, anticipating a Liberal win weeks ago, already laid down her demands for a severe course change, including a government more friendly to the energy sector and provincial sovereignty. Former Reform Party leader Preston Manning has gone one step farther, saying he could envision Western secession and the prospect of Carney being the last prime minister of a united Canada.

Carney, in other words, is not coming into office as Justin Trudeau did a decade ago. He will say, as he did repeatedly during the campaign, that he is not like Trudeau, but his party still carries the baggage that any government gets after 10 years in power.

It’s an early lesson for Carney, and one that Trudeau learned — Liberal victories are hard to earn and never assumed.