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Bloc Qu茅b茅cois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet has been the most eloquent on this score, telling a news conference on Tuesday that it is time to put aside the fractiousness that made the Commons totally dysfunctional before the election.聽

鈥淪o, without there being a major crisis, unless there is a crisis of bad faith, I cannot see any scenario happening other than collaboration for a period of about a year or more,鈥� Blanchet said.聽

As Blanchet observed, the Donald Trump factor demands that Canada鈥檚 political parties get their act together. Clearly that is a goal for Prime Minister Mark Carney 鈥� and his job too.聽

Trump, speaking at the White House on Wednesday, implied that Carney has his work cut out for him, leading a nation divided.聽

Trump called Monday鈥檚 election results 鈥渁 very mixed signal,鈥� adding 鈥渋t’s almost even which makes it very complicated for the country. It’s a pretty tight race.鈥澛�

That observation should leap out to the Canadian political class as a warning. This is a president who knows what he鈥檚 talking about when it comes to polarization 鈥� he creates it and then exploits the resulting division as a weakness.聽

That is the eminently practical reason for a tone shift. It鈥檚 not about making Canadian politics nicer; it鈥檚 about making it smarter to deal with what鈥檚 looming. Trump said Carney was due to visit Washington within the next week.聽

The X-factor in any future collaboration between the parties is what happens with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who was defeated in his own riding on Monday, raising continuing questions about whether he can retain his hold on his party.聽

As even casual observer of question period would attest, Poilievre kept his Conservatives in a perpetual mode of attack, appearing to believe that no blow could be too low. That bled into the party鈥檚 talking points and social media posts, in what some days looked like a relentless campaign to stoke division.聽

Poilievre appeared to recognize during the election campaign that he needed to dial that down, but there will be some Conservatives who argue that it was this approach that put the party within reach of forming government before Trump and Carney came along. They may argue that there are a lot more Conservative MPs in this Commons because there remains a strong strain of anti-Liberalism in this country and it needs to find its voice in the new Parliament.聽

Carney isn鈥檛 the target for these Conservatives and their supporters that Justin Trudeau was 鈥� at least not yet. Yes, all the opposition parties, especially the Conservatives, tried hard to turn Carney into the rich globalist with sketchy ties to big corporate interests, but it will be interesting to see if that line of attack keeps being pursued in the weeks and months ahead.聽

One thing that Carney may want to do is convene more regular meetings with opposition leaders, as Trudeau did occasionally during the various crises that punctuated his decade in office. Those meetings, even temporarily, bought a measure of civil disagreement, however temporary.聽

The ongoing Trump threat gives Carney ample reason to keep the opposition in the loop. He would have every good reason to convene some kind of multi-party meeting as soon as he returns from his Washington trip. That would be a good sign that this Commons is on a different track from the old one.聽

Another reason that politics may be slightly less polarized in the days ahead revolves around what the election triggered internally among the Conservatives, the Bloc Qu茅b茅cois, and the New Democratic Party. They all have morale issues on their hands.聽

The NDP doesn鈥檛 have a leader, now that Jagmeet Singh has said he will resign, and it鈥檚 looking like Conservatives are dealing with some internal debates on Poilievre staying or going as a leadership review looms within the year. Blanchet said candidly on Tuesday that his immediate focus was on his party鈥檚 reduced ranks, going from 34 seats in the Commons to just 22.聽

All of that in itself may give Carney a bit of a honeymoon in his early months as prime minister. Even Trump keeps being nice to him for now, calling him a nice gentleman after their call this week, but how long will that last?聽

Nice may be an overreach anyway in the rough world of politics. But as mentioned earlier, this isn鈥檛 about nice 鈥� it鈥檚 about what鈥檚 smart in the postelection world. If that means saying goodbye to a lot of the dumb partisanship of the last Commons, that鈥檚 a win.聽