The winds of change have again swept the nation.
After the federal election on Monday night, Canada now has a very different political landscape than what we woke up with the morning before.
We have ushered in a new era with the Liberal Party knocking the Conservative Party out of power - a position they held in Ottawa for the past decade.
Liberal leader Justin Trudeau was named prime minister-elect, as though fulfilling the prophecy of change and hope Canadians were demanding.
A Liberal majority was quickly noted around an hour after the polls closed on Monday night.
Many watching the election results unfold before their eyes were either in a state of disbelief that the preemptive polls were actually accurate or that Trudeau and the Liberals were actually able to take down the Conservatives with a resounding majority.
Recent polls had shown the Conservatives lagging behind the Liberals, followed by the NDP.
Once the election results came in from Atlantic Canada, well before the polls closed in B.C. it was clear a red wave was beginning to crest across the nation, but many wondered how far it would reach.
Locally, the Red Deer-Lacombe riding, a newly created federal riding including Lacombe, Blackfalds, north Red Deer, Sylvan Lake and Ponoka, was claimed by the Conservative Party with Blaine Calkins being selected as MP for a fourth term.
In the end, the Conservatives kept a strong hold in the province and in the west, with candidates from the party winning 29 out of 34 seats.
Nationally speaking, the loss was seen as a devastating blow to the Conservatives, especially to Conservative leader and former Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Trudeau now has the task of forming a new government, following up on all of the promises his party made during the 78 day-long campaign and facing the weight of Canadians’ expectations.
More room has been made in the House of Commons for 30 additional MPs, which will not only add additional voices to the chamber but allow for more voices to be heard across the nation.
While some may be weary of yet another change-up, this time on the federal scene, and may feel the political landscape is left in a very unstable state, the general consensus is that this change will do the nation good.
Where exactly the future leads for the nation now is anyone’s guess, but we have to be proud that when Canadians demanded resounding change, they headed to the polls, cast their votes and created the change they wanted to see.