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OK, Conservatives. Calm down now. Take a breath.

Yes, the news lately hasn’t been good. Liberal leader Justin Trudeau is prime minister. You knew this day might come; in fact, for most of 2014 the polls pretty much guaranteed it. Then NDP leader Thomas Mulcair’s stock started rising, Rachel Notley won Alberta, and it seemed that Orange was the new Red. And then, over the course of a seemingly endless election campaign (which you brought upon yourselves, remember), Trudeau morphed from Not Ready to Maybe Ready to Hell Yeah in the minds of nearly 40 per cent of Canadian voters. Exit Stephen Harper, stage right.

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My advice to Tories is this: take a break from Twitter and remember that a) this is not the end of the world b) this country has been governed by Liberals before, and survived c) there’s always next time. Instead of moaning, read the tea leaves, learn and move forward.

Lots of ink has already been spilled on two of the main factors behind the Liberals’ success: the importance of being positive, and offering clear change. What hasn’t been scrutinized as much is a third factor: the importance of Quebec. The real lesson of this election for Canada may be that, whether English Canadians are tired of hearing it or not, Quebec matters. A lot.