W hatever his flaws as a politician turn out to be, Mark Carney does at least possess self-awareness. “You’re supposed to campaign in poetry and govern in prose,” he said in his final campaign speech on April 27th, on the eve of the election. “As the assembled media will tell you, I campaigned in prose. So I’m going to govern in econometrics.”

Provisional results from Elections Canada showed the Liberals had won 169 districts, followed by the Conservatives with 144. Judicial recounts will be needed in two districts and a final official result may be days away.