In the wake of one of the most contentious federal elections ever held, one thing became quite clear: the pollsters during the campaign were mostly wrong, except in predicting that election night was going to be an exciting one.

While the results in Saskatchewan weren't a great surprise, with every seat going Conservative with the exception, once again, of veteran MP Ralph Goodale in Regina, no pollster saw Ontario coming.

The prediction was that the results would be very tight, and it would go right down to the B.C. ridings before we would know - but just like in so many past elections, Ontario came up surprisingly strong for the Liberals and determined the outcome of the election.

The NDP fell short, particularly in Saskatchewan where there will be no MPs for the first time in nearly 40 years, and ended up with only 19 seats. Leader Jack Layton put a brave face on election night in talking about the influence his party might be able to have, but the party doesn't have that many seats to wield any real power in Parliament.

With the Liberals holding 135 seats to 99 seats for the Conservatives, the ball is in Paul Martin's court, and this situation will surely test his skills as a leader to see how long his minority can stand before we are once more thrown into an election.

After the spending in this campaign, all parties will want some time to regroup and refinance themselves, so it's in no one's best interests to call another election anytime soon.

One of the benefits of a minority government is the Liberals can be held to account far more effectively than if they had won a majority. As the sponsorship scandal has still not been dealt with adequately, the opposition has their work cut out for them to ensure there are answers to that fiasco.

The minority will also allow the Conservatives, and to a lesser extent the Bloc and NDP, to exert their views on various issues as they come up for votes in the House of Commons. The Liberals won't want to acquiesce easily, but they will have to consider their options as each issue comes up.

The Prime Minister has indicated early on he doesn't think he'll need to join with the NDP (it would leave them one seat short for a majority anyway), but the coming days will tell if he will try to make it through on his own steam or if he'll need help to avoid having his government fall.

If Martin follows up on his campaign faithfully, health care will be one of the foremost priorities once Parliament resumes sitting again, presumably later this fall. Prior to that, he has to form a new cabinet, which will include filling the holes left by election losses. For this riding, speculation is about who the new Agriculture minister might be to replace Bob Speller.

In any event, the coming days in Ottawa should prove interesting, and Canadians should get a clear idea of whose platform was really worth of support - just in case we're back in election mode in the near future. - G.N.