Jack Layton couldn’t have predicted this. When the NDP leader used his swing vote to topple Paul Martin’s Liberals last fall, he didn’t really mean for the Conservatives to form a minority government in 2006. And despite impressive NDP gains this time around, this parliamentary balance might not grant the New Democrats the king-making power they enjoyed last year.

With the Conservative win, voters confirmed that it is time for a change and that they are prepared to accept a version of their country quite different from the one they knew under the Liberals.

Reaction across the land this morning is equal parts elation and dread as Stephen Harper orders new stationery and readies himself for what will undoubtedly be an interesting first few weeks in power. Canadians are all waiting to see if the devil we don’t really know turns out to be a moderate Tory, as he cast himself during the campaign, or a type of “Bush-lite,” as the Liberals tried to paint him. Also holding their collective breath are those who currently use and enjoy the Liberal social programs now possibly on the chopping block.

Despite a respectable showing for the Grits, Canadians have given the boys in red a “time out,” as Layton called for, and the party would do well to take the electorate seriously and use the time in opposition to rout out any remnants of corruption.

Paul Martin had some good ideas and an appealing vision of the national character and direction of this land. But his brief term in office was marked by a maddening inability to implement the grand ideals he again expounded during this campaign. Changing the leader-should the party choose to do so-will not suddenly recast the Liberals as a fresh or trustworthy face on the political scene, but Martin’s tired mug is emblematic of a regime that has finally sagged under its own suspect largesse.

It is a time of change for both parties: the Liberals must re-learn how to contribute to policy-making without actually wielding power, while the Conservatives must stop whining and show us what they’re made of. They’ll be on a leash as tight as, if not tighter than, the one reining in the Liberal minority, since Canadians are wary of American-style rhetoric and will ensure that our nation retains its distinct character. As opposition partners, Layton and Martin have much more in common than did Layton and Harper, and as such can hopefully keep Prime Minister Harper from doing anything rash.

No, the sky hasn’t fallen. But it sure is a bright, blinding blue.