usually in Canada you can't do anything with a minority gov't. "checks and balances" and "compromise" seem to be foreign concepts. the gov't in power pretty much does what it wants until they are thrown out next election, usually because they exceed their reach.
what does keep a Canadian gov't in check is the fact there is little power at the federal level and they do what Toronto tells them anyway, with Quebec lighting a fire under them (one of the reasons the West is so solidly conservative).
The spin coming out from the Liberals (the Grits) is that this was a waste of tax payer money ($300 million - laws are very strict concerning private donations) as its the third election in four years. The Tories responded as I've stated above, that nothing was getting done so they called it to try to get a majority.
They failed. However, what Harper has gained is a "solid minority" and with 3 other major parties all he needs is about 6 or 7 backbenchers from any party to get something passed, and that should be relatively easy.
Even in his acceptance speech Harper still made comments to Quebec voters. It was and is still widely beleived if the Tories can make a few inroads into Quebec then a majority gov't can't be too far behind. This election he seemed to make that to start but reality quickly sunk in as traditional liberal positions on crime and the war in Afghanistan took hold.
The strict laws on private donation has the Grits swimming in debt now and the fallout over "Adscam" still lingers. The vast majority of their votes came from the Greater Toronto area so they further isolated themselves to the big three cities in Canada, sort of like Red States and Blue States in the US. At the very least their leader Stephane Dion will be gone and every elected candidate got that same first question by the media last night.
