There has been a major shift in Quebec's political landscape, as Mario Dumont's right-wing Action democratique du Quebec rode a wave of popularity to become the official Opposition to a weakened Liberal government led by Jean Charest.
Charest now heads up a minority government, his party only capturing 48 of 125 seats up for grabs in the provincial legislature, down from 72 before the election.
"Today Quebecers delivered a judgment, a severe one, and the Liberal party and I will have to learn lessons from it," Charest admitted in front of a crowd of supporters in Sherbrooke, Que.
"This new assembly will test our political maturity and sense of duty. Quebecers decided to write a page of history tonight and put their politicians to the test. I accept this challenge."
Dumont, who struck a chord with voters by promoting the idea of Quebec autonomy within Canada, surpassed perhaps even his own expectations as his party jumped from five seats to 41.
"This is a cry from the heart from the people that we heard tonight," the ADQ leader said at his campaign rally in Riviere-du-Loup.
"Quebec is entering the 21st century in terms of politics. This is a victory for all middle-class Quebecers.
"We now have a rendez-vous for the next step."
Andre Boisclair and the sovereigntist Parti Quebecois finished a disappointing third, with 36 seats, meaning there won't be a referendum on Quebec separation anytime soon.
"These flames haven't been extinguished tonight, but they aren't burning as brightly," he conceded, as the party fell to its lowest level of support in decades. Despite the rebuke, Boisclair vows to stay on and fight another campaign - and return triumphant.
But the pressure on him to quit will be enormous before then.
The Liberals will now be forced to rely on support from the ADQ to keep the minority government - the province's first since 1878 - afloat.
At one point it appeared Charest might even lose his own seat, though by the end of the night, he'd won by a slim margin of about 500 votes.
It means the once popular Charest - inroncally once the federal Conservative leader before being persuaded to jump ship and "save Quebec" as a Liberal - could also feel the heat to step down.
As for how the provincial election results and the weakened support for sovereignty might resonate in Ottawa, there's a chance Prime Minister Stephen Harper could call a spring election in an effort to win more seats in Quebec at the expense of the Bloc Quebecois.
That seems logical - the BQ and the Liberals are both down and the right wing is on the rise, as evidenced by the ADQ's surge.
The reaction from the opposition - bring it on!
"Mr. Harper, we all know, has been looking for a reason to engineer his own defeat," maintains Liberal MPP Marlene Jennings.
But the NDP thinks an election now would be a major mistake for the Tories. "I think it was more of a protest from grassroots, ordinary people," he surmises. "And that can express itself in different ways at different times."
The P.M. adamantly insists he's not planning anything.
"I know everybody sees election opportunities in this, but the public didn't elect me to sit around looking for election opportunities."
He claims to be more interested in talking about what the results will mean to Canada.
"For the first time in over three decades in Quebec, we have a government opposed to a referendum and an official opposition opposed to a referendum."
And Harper put his words into action, becoming the only federal leader to call both Charest and Dumont to offer his congratulations.
- Meanwhile, it's clear there won't be any election over the budget. With the help, ironically enough, of the Bloc, that document passed in the House of Commons Tuesday by a 176 to 119 vote. The Liberals and the NDP voted against it.
Quebec election results:
Liberals (under Jean Charest): 48
Action democratique du Quebec (under Mario Dumont): 41
Parti Quebecois (under Andre Boisclair): 36
Total seats: 125