[LINK] "Is this the worst time in Canadian history for Conservatives?"

[rfmcdonald]

TVO's Steve Paikin looks at the position of the Conservatives after last week's federal election. They are weakened, badly, but they can still bounce back.

[O]f all the provincial and territorial legislatures in Canada, Conservatives are governing where approximately 1.7 million Canadians live — about five per cent of the population.

Federally, it was a clean sweep for the Liberals in Atlantic Canada — there are zero Conservative MPs left. In Quebec, just 12 of 78 seats are Conservative; in Ontario, just 33 out of 121; from Manitoba to British Columbia, it's 54 Conservatives out of 104 seats, which sounds not bad, until you remember the Liberals are now the No. 1 party in B.C. and Manitoba, and have penetrated Fortress Calgary with two seats — the party's first in the Alberta city since 1968.

So things seem hopeless, right?

Not so fast. Thirty years ago, there were no Liberal governments anywhere in Canada. None. The Liberals were out of power in Ottawa, and in every provincial legislature in the country. But in Ontario, the Liberals' David Peterson became premier after the 1985 election and from there, the landscape changed. Eventually, what hurt Conservatives on Oct. 19 could be their salvation: that moment roughly once every decade where voters say “enough” to the party in power and give another party a new chance. And if the federal Conservatives choose wisely for their next leader, they could be back in the game sooner rather than later.